“You should come,” Daniel said. “We can get our selfie of the week there for ... lemon squares.”
I laughed at our relationship code name. He had a point, though. This fake relationship would look more real if we had selfies in a variety of places instead of all at the shelter.
I probably didn’t really need the hours, but I did want to see the market. I agreed, and Andre told me to be ready at the shelter at seven Saturday morning.
Daniel and I headed for the front door. Yasmin was in the common room coloring at the coffee table with some older kids. She ran up when she saw us.
“Daniel! I was looking for you!” Yasmin said.
Daniel crouched down to talk at her level.
“Mama told me that you said you would make me a cake for my birthday. Can you make a raspberry one?”
He nodded. “I don’t think I’ve ever made a raspberry cake before, but I think I could figure it out.”
She beamed. “Raspberry is my favorite flavor.” She pointed at me. “Did you know she’s making a video game about fairies? It was my idea.”
“Is she?” Daniel looked at me. “I’ll bet it’ll be amazing. Samaya is the smartest person I know.” He stood. “I’ll see you next week, Yasmin.”
“Okay! Bye, Daniel! Bye, Samantha!” She went back to her drawing.
I chuckled as Daniel and I walked to the bus stop. It was a sunny day, but a bit chilly. I zipped up my hoodie. “Not the first time someone’s called me Samantha.”
He laughed. “She called me David for the first week I was here. Why does she think you’re making a fairies video game?”
“Because I am. I mean, I’m making a game. It probably won’t be about fairies, though.” I told him about the game-dev club.
“Hey, that sounds cool. Youshoulddo it about fairies. An adventure game about fairies sounds awesome. Like those Tinker Bell movies!”
First, he talks aboutBridgerton, then the Tinker Bell movies? “You have unusual taste in entertainment.”
He shrugged. “You should at least look into this fairies idea. I think a cool, grown-up fairies game would be awesome. Why do elves get all the love? Fairies can fly! They can tie stiff leaves to their shoes as ice skates.”
“Why would they need ice skates?”
“Canadian fairies would play hockey, wouldn’t they?”
I chuckled. “That’s nice of you to make her a cake for her birthday.”
“She’s had it rough. She’s the youngest in a big family, and they had very little even before they ended up here. I doubt she’s ever had a cake for herself. Not a decent one, anyway.”
I was a youngest child, so I kind of knew what it was like to be an afterthought sometimes, but I only hadonesibling. Being the youngest in a family with social challenges, whatever they were, had to be even harder.
Logically, of course I knew that the people staying at the family shelter were here because they had nowhere else to go, but their problems had been kind of vague for me. Not real issues that real people were dealing with.
I felt so bad for that little girl. Her family should have had their own home somewhere. Yasmin should have her own room, and a brand-new tricycle that was only hers and a cake every year with her name on it. Here I was complaining that some gossipers at my school were targeting me and I was catfished, all while working in a shelter full of people facing much harder challenges.
“That’s tough. I wish there was something we could do for her,” I said.
“Samaya, we areliterallydoing something here for the shelter residents. The money we raise at the farmers’ market goes directly tochildren’s programming at the shelter. The whole day care was just redone with bake sale money. And the playground was donated by a bank, but the mulch and landscaping came from fundraising.”
Now that I knew how amazing the shelter was, I wished I had come that day to build the playground, but I’d been focused on other things. Myself, probably. I hadn’t seen how assembling monkey bars could benefit me. Not that I was any better now. I’d only started volunteering here to get my volunteer hours to graduate, not to actually help kids like Yasmin.
And also, if I’d been here, maybe I could have met Daniel earlier.
“I can also help make her birthday cake, if you want,” I said. “Not that I’ve made a cake before, but how hard could it be?”
He shook his head, laughing. “I’m not sure you’re ready for frosted cakes yet, Count. You could measure the ingredients for me or something. Work within your strengths.”
