Chapter 1: The Goodwill Project
By Rinoa
"Is this for real?" Jason asked in disbelief. "All we have to do
is write down three wishes and we get an A for it?"
"No, not quite," Mr. Woods corrected. "You get an A for this
part, but not for the entire project itself."
"You still haven't described the project, Mr. Woods," Chloe pointed
out. "All you said was that we had to write down three wishes on a piece of
paper."
"Patience, Ms. Lane, is a virtue. After we have ALL written down three
wishes, and these wishes CAN NOT have any negative feelings towards another, I
will tell you guys the next step. So, without further ado, please take out a
sheet of paper and write down three wishes. And when you're done, give them to
me so I can look them over and approve of them."
*****
Chloe looked at her blank piece of paper. Three wishes, huh? That wasn't too
hard. Well, actually, it was. She had so many wishes that she didn't know where
to begin. First, there had always been her wish to become a huge opera star. And
then there was her wish to find out the identity of her biological father. And,
of course, there was the generic wish of finding someone to love and spend the
rest of your life with.
Chloe sighed and tapped her fingers subconsciously on her desk. This was,
according to Mr. Woods, a goodwill project. Their first task in this project was
to write down three wishes. What they were for, Chloe had no idea. But still…
Mr. Woods had been specific in this set of instructions. Write down three
personal wishes.
Chloe grabbed her pen and scribbled her name messily in the corner. If she
didn't write her three wishes now, she was going to just chicken out and write
something stupid and meaningless and generic.
Chloe looked down at her list in satisfaction. Of course, her first wish was to
find out who her real father was. Her second wish was to become a big opera
star. And her third wish was to live happily ever after with the guy of her
dreams. Whoever that guy was.
Chloe turned her head slightly and smiled at her boyfriend. You never know…
*****
Philip looked down at his list of wishes. He hesitated softly and wondered to
himself if he really wanted to submit this as his three wishes.
"One, I wish my parents fixed their problems and got back together. Two, I
wish my brother Lucas gets better and wakes up. Three, I wish Chloe and I never
fight again," Philip read his list to himself silently.
Before the fire and the destruction of his house, before the coronation, before
Christmas and his half-brother's Bo's wedding, Chloe had been the only
"outsider" who knew of his family's situation. But, since the fire and
Nicole Robert's ascent to presidency of Titan, it had become public knowledge
that his mother had fallen from the Kiriakis graces and had been kicked out of
the household.
Philip frowned- his mother was now a simple waitress at a dingy little diner.
His mother, who had once been the president of Titan, who had all sorts of
businessmen cowering in fear in their little corners… Philip frowned. He
wanted her to be something special once again, but not just anything. She was
his mother. She deserved better- she deserved nothing short of what she once had
before, to be at the side of his father and the President of Titan.
Philip folded his paper in half and creased it tightly. He wasn't going to
change his list. This was what he wanted, no substitutions at all.
Philip chuckled lightly. Who would have thought that the richest boy in Salem
didn't have a single wish on his list that was materialistic?
*****
Belle licked her lips and looked down at her list. Like Chloe and Philip, she
had been unsure of her wishes and had needed time to think of them. But she
liked this final list. It had the three most important things to her.
First, she wanted her brother to forgive everyone for the past and start anew.
She wanted Brady to forget about his grudges against her mother, Chloe, Roman,
Abe, everyone. She wanted her brother to drop his I-Hate-the-World attitude and
become a part of society again. Belle grinned- if Mr. Woods could grant her this
one wish she would swear he was an angel sent from Heaven.
Second, she wanted the kids at school to cease their cruel teasing of other
students. Specifically, that meant against Chloe and Susan as they were the ones
picked on most often. Belle grimaced. This may be as impossible as her brother
becoming nice.
Third, and this was a personal wish, Belle wished that Shawn Brady would realize
her true feelings for him. Belle sighed… Then again, maybe this wish was the
most impossible one on her list. Shawn was just impossibly, unexplainably, the
densest male on the face of the planet.
Belle grabbed her eraser and erased the third wish. No way on earth she was
going to write that down as her third wish. Belle examined the piece of paper
carefully to make sure every word was completely erased. Good, it was. Belle
picked up her pencil and inserted another wish into the third slot. "I wish
the guy I like likes me in return," Belle said softly to herself as she
wrote it in. Yes, that would work. Mr. Woods, and whoever else saw her paper,
would not be able to tell just whom she was crushing on.
*****
Shawn looked around, bored. This had got to be the easiest assignment, ever. He
had thought up of his first three wishes within the first minute. First, he
wished his baby brother was healthier and that his health problems ceased.
Second, he wished that his family could live peacefully without anyone
threatening them anymore. Of course, this wish was directed at a particular
person, namely Stefano DiMera, but that was besides the point. Third, he wished
all his friends' wishes came true.
Shawn snuck a glance at his perfect girl. She was erasing something on her list.
And from the looks of her face, which was red as a tomato, she had just wished
for something embarrassing and was changing her mind about it.
Undoubtedly, one of Belle's wishes would be about her brother and his hostility
to her family and friends. Another wish would probably be about her friends and
how she wished everybody could get along. And her third wish would probably be
about…
Shawn leaned back in his seat and studied Belle carefully. Her face had returned
to its normal shade and she seemed satisfied with the new answer she had written
in. It had to have been about a guy, Shawn decided. His best friend in life had
fallen in love and she had wished the guy loved her back.
Strange, wasn't it, that he felt uncomfortable and disconcerted with that idea.
Absolutely strange…
*****
"I wish I had a boyfriend," Mimi growled silently as she wrote in her
first wish. "And then I wish I had lots of money so that my parents never
have to worry about money again. And then I wish I was more like Belle and that
everybody liked me."
Mimi frowned and looked at her list. Was this really what she wished for? Was
she really as pathetic as this? Didn't she have some sort of wish that didn't
sound all, well, wishy-washy?
Mimi looked around the classroom. She could wish she was more athletic,
prettier, smarter… Damn, this was, in essence, wishing she were more like
Belle.
Mimi 's eyes landed on Susan. At least she wasn't a big cow like her and had to
go through school with people calling her "Gigantor".
Mimi bit her lip. She actually wished that there were more people like Susan,
Kevin, and Chloe. People who the cool kids made fun of. Because if there were
more of them, then she'd be shut out of their circle of ridicule, which was all
she ever really wanted.
But making a wish that there were more weird-o's was a negative wish. She
couldn't write that on her list, could she? She'd probably lose points if she
wrote a wish like that.
Mimi folded her wish list in half and went to Mr. Woods table to turn it in for
his approval.
*****
"I wish all girls knew how great I was," Jason read to himself,
frowning. That wasn't quite right… he wrote in the word "attractive"
between the two words "all" and "girl". That was better- he
didn't want loser like Gigantor and Ghoul Girl hanging around him with stars in
their eyes.
"I wish I had as much money as Philip," Jason said softly, writing in
his second wish. If he had money like that, he'd rule the school. Philip and
Shawn would live under his thumb, not the other way around.
"And third, I want…" Jason paused, thinking. What was his third
wish? "I want to get an A on this project so that my dad will be proud of
me and won't threaten to send me to military school."
Yeah, that was it. With these three wishes, he'd be set for life. The question
was, could Mr. Woods really pull this off?
*****
Jan's head rested comfortably on her opened hand. She watched Jason with bored
eyes. She could just picture what her boyfriend/ex-boyfriend… whatever it was
they were to each other… wrote. He probably asked for some hot sports car, for
some good times with all the pretty girls in school, and probably a trip to
Hawaii or something. He had always wanted to go to check out all the babes in
their bikinis on the tropical islands.
Jan's lips pursed into a tiny frown. He probably didn't make a single wish about
her, that pig. Well, she wasn't about to waste a wish on him either.
"I wish my dad would stop yelling at my mom," Jan's hand wrote.
"I wish my boyfriend would treat me better."
Jan looked up and looked around. Everyone was focused on their own pieces of
paper. The coast was clear. Jan turned and peaked a glance at Kevin. She wished
that Kevin and his kisses would stop haunting her mind. What if Jason ever found
out?
Still… Jan looked back at Jason. Jason was not the ideal boyfriend. Philip
was. The way he treated his girlfriend Chloe was infinitely better than the way
Jason treated her. Granted, relationships worked on two-way streets and Jason's
treatment way towards her probably reflected the treatment she showed him.
Maybe, they just weren't meant to be together and they both knew it. Maybe the
way they treated each other was signaling them to end their farce of a
relationship and look for a new one with other people. Maybe…
Maybe that was why she had wished her "boyfriend", not necessarily
Jason, would treat her better. Maybe she wanted a new boyfriend. Maybe it was
Kevin. Maybe…
Jan picked up her pencil and slowly wrote, "I wish Kevin Lambert was
cooler." That wasn't negative and derogatory, was it? If she had said she
wished he was less dorky and nerdy, then that may be taken in a bad way. But
this was okay, wasn't it?
*****
Susan frowned at her list. Chloe's words echoed in her mind… there was no
guarantee that even if she were thin and pretty, people would like her and stop
teasing her. If she wanted to be thin, it had to be because she wanted to be
thin, not because she wanted people to like her.
But what did Chloe know? Chloe had never been subjected to the humiliation she
had endured all her life. Chloe knew nothing, and so her opinions meant nothing.
"I want to be thin, and I want to be pretty, and I want people to stop
teasing me," Susan read to herself. Three simple wishes, and three simple
goals.
*****
Kevin folded his list in half and walked up to Mr. Woods' desk to turn it in.
His first two wishes were simple and easy to grant. Hell, they were all but
guaranteed already. First, he wanted to be the valedictorian of their class, and
second, he wanted to get accepted into Harvard on a full scholarship. Both of
them were in the bag, as he had perfect SAT I and II scores already and his GPA
was a perfect 4.1, thanks to his AP classes.
His third wish, however, was not guaranteed. He was working on it, and it seemed
probable, but Kevin was never one to play with statistics and probability. He
wanted it guaranteed. He wanted a girlfriend, someone to talk and laugh with,
someone to cheer him on when he was tired and someone who he could cheer on. Was
that really too much to ask?
To that end, he was working overtime in achieving Jan's or Mimi's affections. If
Jan didn’t succumb to his charms and specially produced cologne, then Mimi
probably would.
But, Kevin was not the type of person satisfied with "probably". He
wanted guarantees, and wishing for a girlfriend couldn't possibly hurt his
chances.
*****
Mr. Woods cleared his throat. All the wishes he had seen had actually been
acceptable. Not one of them had wished for someone to die or disappear off the
face of the planet of something to that extent.
"I need you all to pair up," Mr. Woods instructed them next.
"There is an odd number of students in this class, so I'll be participating
in the project and also partner up with someone."
"Why are we pairing up?" Belle asked nervously.
"Like I told Ms. Lane earlier, all will be revealed in good time," Mr.
Woods replied vaguely. "Just find a partner."
Chloe and Philip shared a mutual silent glance. They were partners for this
Goodwill project that Mr. Woods was setting up for them.
"Belle?" Shawn asked with a grin. "Want to be my partner?"
Belle hesitated. What if they were partnering up so that they could grant the
other's wishes? Then Shawn would see her list and make fun of her. "I don't
know," Belle said slowly. "I was thinking about partnering up with
Mimi. I haven't talked with her too much recently, and I thought this project
would help us catch up."
Shawn motioned to the back where Mimi was sitting. "Kevin already asked her
to pair up with him. So she's taken already, Belle."
"Kevin?" Belle frowned. The school nerd? Uh, make that school brain.
Calling Kevin a nerd could be taken as a derogatory comment. "She barely
even knows him."
Shawn shrugged. "I don't think it matters. Fact is, she's taken. But I'm
not." Shawn grinned at Belle. "What do you say- partners?"
Belle returned Shawn's smile with a shaky one of her own. "Sure, why
not?"
*****
Mr. Woods put down his pen and looked at his list approvingly. There were
fourteen groups. A few were couples, as in boyfriend/girlfriend, while most were
just friends. As expected, he himself had paired off with Susan.
Mr. Woods took out a piece of paper and wrote numbers on them. "I have
given each pair of partners a number ranging from one to fourteen. That is your
group number, class."
Mr. Woods cut the piece of paper up and folded the cut fourteen rectangular
slips of paper into smaller rectangles. He took out a paper bag and put the
small cut up strips of paper into the bag. "Each group is to pick a number
from this bag. If it matches your number, put it back in and pick again. We'll
do this until each group has a different number."
"This is so lame," Jan whispered to her partner Jason. "Just
because the administration has been getting phone calls from our parents,
they're making us do this stupid goodwill to humanity project. I mean, talk
about dumb."
"Who cares?" Jason whispered in reply. "It's an easy A, according
to Mr. Woods. And both of us can use it, Jan."
Mr. Woods started walking around the class and had each group pick a number from
the bag.
"The number you pick represents two other people, another group," Mr.
Woods explained. "Your project, class, this so-called Goodwill Project, is
to make those two peoples' wishes come true. Your grade for this project will
depend on your effort and your results. The more effort you put forth, the
higher your grade. The more results and wishes granted, the higher your
grade."
Chloe's jaw dropped. "I put things on my list that are impossible to grant.
I mean, my wishes involve things that my classmates can't possibly give
me."
"I understand, Ms. Lane. Some wishes are simply out of your peers' power to
grant. But that doesn't mean they can't help you in achieving that goal or wish,
does it? Take for example, if I had wished to become Cindy Crawford's next
husband. Surely, no one in class can grant it to me. But they can teach me
things about her that could give me an edge in making her fall in love with me.
They can teach me how to become a ladies man, and such. Every wish I have seen
can at least be helped in achieving, if not granting. So there are no excuses
for a bad grade, people. I want nothing short of A-work from every student in
this class."
Mr. Woods finished passing out the numbers. Apparently, every student pair had
chosen a number different from their own. "Let's see who has which
group."
to be continued...
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