Although the students who had donated more than 100 dollars were invited to go on stage to speak, none of them was very enthusiastic. After all, most of them had donated the money to help the poor mountain village children and not simply to boost their reputations.
After the hostess finished speaking, a few people took the initiative to go up onto the stage and say a few words. None of them wanted to accept credit for their donations, and as agreed, all of them praised the student who had donated 130 thousand dollars.
Darren was one of those who walked up to the podium. He said, "Look. I want to criticize someone for giving a single dollar and then being proud of it, claiming to have donated money as if he had made a great contribution to the children of the mountain village. We should all learn from that student who donated more than 100 thousand dollars. That person is not only rich but also of very high moral standards. I only donated three hundred and fifty dollars to the mountain village children. I'm nothing compared to him, and if possible, I want to express my admiration to him in person."
Because Darren thought that the student who had donated 130 thousand dollars must be much richer than him and from an influential family, he intentionally tried to flatter him from the podium so that when he saw him later on, he would be able to befriend him.
Alex felt his stomach churn as he saw Darren's fawning expression on the podium. Luckily, he hadn't mentioned his name and didn't go up on stage. Otherwise, he would be making a quick exit right now.
When he finished speaking, Darren walked off the stage.
The others were all moved by his words, and one by one they condemned the person who had donated a single dollar and praised the one who had donated 130 thousand.
One person jeered, "The fool who donated one dollar still had the cheek to brag about it? How embarrassing."
"Who can tell me who this person is? I'll hit him right now," another called out.
One female student said, "I want to meet that student who donated 130 thousand. I bet he's handsome."
Hearing the discussions around them, Darren laughed proudly. "Alex, did you hear that?" he said. "Everyone's scolding you, you scum."
When no one came up to speak at Darren's invitation, the hostess started to move on to the next segment.
"All right, we will begin taking pictures of everyone together on stage. Due to the restrictions of the venue, we can only invite the thirty students who contributed the most to come up to have their photos taken. Please forgive us, those students that can't come up on stage. I will announce the names next," he said and went on to call them over.
"Darren, three hundred and fifty dollars."
"Dan Willis donated five hundred dollars."
"Shane Farnham donated five hundred dollars."
"Darling, I've missed you," Donna said to Darren excitedly, holding onto his arm and shaking it vigorously. "I also want to go up on stage and take a picture, my love. Can I go with you?"
Donna wanted to get into the group photo, show it to her class committee, and gain credit for herself. That way, she would have a huge advantage in the scholarship evaluation at the end of term. This group photo would be useful in many ways.
"Why not? I'll just tell them. Let's go." Darren replied. Then he walked on stage with Donna's hand in his own.
"Sorry, our space is limited. We're not allowed to bring others up for the photos. Please forgive us," said Emma, the girl who was responsible for maintaining order, as she stopped Donna.
"Please, let's make a deal between us. No one will know if you don't tell them," Donna whispered to the girl with glasses, but she was still tactfully rejected.
"Get out of the way. Who do you think you are? How dare you stop me." Darren arrogantly pushed Emma aside and pulled Donna over.
"It's a miracle that someone like him would even donate money to a mountain village," Emma muttered angrily as she rubbed her arm.
At that moment, when the hostess announced the last three people, the atmosphere had reached its peak.
"Liam Walsh, please come up to the podium. Liam donated one thousand five hundred dollars."
The girls in the audience were buzzing. Watching Liam walk onto the stage, they all cheered, their eyes filled with passion.
"Toby Ford, please come up. Toby donated one thousand five hundred dollars."
Toby walked onto the stage.
"I love you, gorgeous. You're the best," one of the young women shouted out. "A rich man doing something to help others. That doesn't happen too often."
To attract the attention of the rich and eligible young men, the girls in the auditorium shrieked, and the atmosphere was like a pop concert.
Of course, everyone was also excited about finding out who the super-rich man was who had contributed over one hundred thousand dollars.
"Next, let's invite the student in the first place to step up. His donation is one hundred thirty thousand."
It was as if the hall had exploded. Some people covered their mouths, while others widened their eyes. Some even stood up from their seats to search for their classmate in the hall.
One hundred and thirty thousand. Most parents can't even make that much money a year.
When Donna heard that someone had donated one hundred thirty thousand dollars, her heart was in turmoil. She was thinking, if only I can get to know this rich guy and get him interested in me, then I'll dump Darren without a second thought.
Everyone was searching for the rich donator, but no one stood up. The crowd looked excitedly at the hostess, asking her to announce that generous donor's name.
"That student didn't leave his name when he donated the one hundred thirty thousand dollars," the hostess explained to everyone.
One girl said, "No name? That's proof that these rich young people only wanted to help the children of the mountain village. That they weren't doing it just to boost their reputations. Their morals were high."
I want to meet this rich guy. He's my dream man, thought Donna.
"Buddy, if you're here, please get up on the stage and have your picture taken," the hostess said as she scanned the audience.
However, no one stood up. Everyone assumed that the rich donor wasn't there, and they were all disappointed.
Alex, who was sitting in the last row, covered his face with his hands and heaved a sigh of relief. However, he also felt a little guilty, as if he had tricked everyone.
The hostess began to arrange for the people on the stage to stand and have their photos taken together. It was cramped, with everyone standing in a row, facing the photographer who was below the stage.
Darren had given the least money, so he and Donna could only stand on the very edge. Donna stood very close to the right side of the stage. If they moved a little bit to the right, she thought she might be pushed off.
Finally, everyone stood up. Donna tidied her hair, put her arm around Darren, and smiled proudly.
She sneered deliberately at Debbie, who was sitting at the foot of the stage and said to herself, Debbie, my man can take me on stage to have my photo taken. You can only watch me from the audience, yet you're still delusional enough to think you can find a richer man than mine, aren't you? You've got no chance. I'll always look down on you.
At that moment, Donna felt like a queen looking down at the lowly Debbie.
By this time, Alex wanted to leave. After all, the event was coming to an end. He held Debbie's hand and started to move toward the door.
"Wait." Alex had just taken two steps when an excited female called out to him in the hall. He slowly looked toward the direction of the voice, and his heart couldn't help but skip a beat as he thought, oh no!
The person calling him was the girl with the ponytail, Laura, who had been there the day when he had donated the money.
When she saw Alex, her hesitation quickly turned into excitement. She ran toward him, grabbed his arm, and said loudly to all the students, "Everyone, he's the one that donated one hundred thirty thousand."
All eyes were focused on Alex. Was this guy, who was dressed in street vendor clothes, rich or something? They still couldn't believe it. Someone had started to question the girl on the spot.
"I know it for certain. I was the one who met him that day, and my companion even took a photo at the time. If you don't believe me, look for yourselves," she said as she brought out the photo her companion had given her and showed it to everyone. There was a lot of shouting.
"It's him," one guy shouted.
Another agreed, "That's right, he's the one."
"Alex, you're too modest," a girl said to him coyly.
Everyone now believed that he was the student who had donated one hundred thirty thousand. When the hostess found out that Alex was the one, he quickly gathered everyone to escort him to the stage.
"We've finally found out your true identity. Thank you so much for giving one hundred thirty thousand dollars to the children in the impoverished mountain village. Can you tell us your name?" The hostess put the microphone near Alex's mouth.
Now he couldn't even hide it if he wanted to, so he stopped pretending.
"My name is Alex Ambrose," he said softly.
"Oh, so it's Alex Ambrose. This name sounds like it belongs to a wealthy and distinguished family. He's a good and noble young man. Let's express our respect for him, everyone." The hostess clapped his hands and the audience burst into applause.
"Alex, Alex—" His name was shouted out rhythmically by the audience. Only after thirty seconds did Alex gradually start to relax.
"All right, let's take a picture now. Alex, you are the highest donor, so you stand in the middle," Emma said.
"Oh, okay." Alex saw Debbie staring at him in disbelief with her eyes wide open. He asked the hostess beside him, "May I bring my friend up with me?"
"Of course, you can," the hostess answered without thinking.
Alex thanked him and walked onto the stage holding Debbie's hand.
"Everyone move to the side," Emma requested. The other students started to move out of the way for Alex and Debbie.
Donna, who was standing at the edge, had almost lost her place.
"Miss, why don't you come down? I can't let you stay now," Emma said to her.
"No, I need to be in the pictures," Donna replied arrogantly.
When they heard that Alex was the super-rich student who had donated one hundred thirty thousand dollars, Donna's and Darren's jaws had dropped. No matter what, they couldn't accept that fact.
Donna was outraged as she thought to herself, When it was me that was going to be in the photo, you guys didn't say anything at all and even criticized me behind my back. Now it's Debbie's turn. Look at your stupid faces. You're idolizing Alex now.
Now you're telling me to get off the stage, sit down, and watch Debbie have her photo taken? What is this? I, Donna, have always been the one looking down on Debbie. Even if I can't beat her this time, I'm not getting off the stage for her to take my place.
Seeing Donna's angry expression, Emma frowned helplessly. She moved a chair over and placed it next to the stage and said, "If you want to be in the picture, you can stand on this chair. Otherwise, you'll have to leave."
Seeing that there was nothing else she could do, Donna agreed and stood on the chair below the stage. She comforted herself that at least she wasn't worse than Debbie, but she didn't know that she had already become a target of public ridicule among the audience.
"That girl's ridiculous," laughed one student.
His friend agreed. "She's half a body lower than others; she looks short. What a dope."
"She's so desperate to be in the photo even standing below the stage. Her stubbornness is crazy, I'm telling you," said another student.