The next morning, I woke up with butterflies doing backflips in my stomach.
Six hundred dollars.
I’d been thinking about it all night. How was I supposed to earn that much money? I’m twelve. I don’t even get an allowance.
But I said I’d do it. In front of everyone.
The doorbell rang before I even got dressed. Piper and Charlie stood on my front porch, both looking like they’d barely slept.
“We’ve been talking all night,” Piper announced, pushing past me into the house.
“About you earning six hundred dollars,” Charlie said quietly. “Kiora, that’s… that’s a lot.”
“I know it’s a lot.”
“My mom gives me five dollars a week for allowance,” Piper said. “So at five dollars a week, it would take you…” Charlie’s eyes went distant while she calculated. “Twenty-four weeks. That’s almost six months.”
My stomach dropped. Summer vacation was only three months long.
“And you don’t even get allowance,” Piper pointed out.
We sat in silence for a minute. This was harder than I thought.
“Maybe you should pick a different goal,” Piper said slowly. “Like earning fifty dollars.”
“But fifty dollars won’t get me to Florida.”
“I know, but—”
“No.” I stood up. “I’m not changing my goal.”
Piper and Charlie exchanged one of those looks. The kind that said they thought I was being ridiculous.
“Kiora,” Charlie said gently, “maybe you should be realistic.”
“Six hundred dollars isn’t realistic for a kid.”
I felt that stubborn feeling rising up in my chest. The same feeling I got when someone told me I couldn’t do something.
“Well, everyone is wrong.”
My friends looked at each other again. This time, though, something shifted in their expressions.
“Okay,” Charlie said finally. “If you really want to do this, we’ll help.”
“Really?”
“Really,” Piper said. “But promise you won’t get too disappointed if it doesn’t work out.”
I crossed my arms. “It’s going to work out.”
“It is.” I looked at both of them, my heart pounding.
“It’s got to.”