Not that she'd said that. Obviously.
She pushed away from the door and went back to her guitar.
Outside, she could hear Annabelle's cheerful voice herding the children away, probably telling them all how wonderful this was going to be, how excited they should be, how Raven was secretly lovely underneath all the grumpiness.
"I'm not lovely," Raven muttered to the empty room. "I'm an idiot who can't say no to someone in dinosaur pajamas."
She picked up her guitar and started playing, trying to ignore the fact that the melody coming out was suspiciously cheerful.
And trying very hard not to think about why Annabelle's smile had made her say yes when every instinct had been screaming at her to slam the door and pretend she'd never heard them.
Chapter Ten
Raven arrived at the fundraiser planning meeting with exactly one goal: survive it with minimal participation and escape as quickly as humanly possible.
She'd agreed to help. That didn't mean she had to like it.
The meeting was at Blossom's Café, which at least meant decent coffee, she supposed. Raven pushed through the door to find the committee already assembled around the corner table, looking distressingly cheerful for five o’clock on a weekday afternoon, particularly with not a drop of alcohol in sight.
"Raven," Annabelle beamed at her like she'd just won the lottery. "You came. Oh, this is wonderful. Come sit, come sit. Would you like tea? Coffee? Blossom's got lovely biscuits today."
"Coffee. Black." Raven took the chair farthest from Gloria, who was wearing a velvet cape and looked like she was about to launch into a monologue.
"Now that we're all here," Annabelle said, consulting her stack of color-coded notes, "we can finalize the plans. I've been making a list of all our ideas, and I think we've got some really brilliant options."
"Before we begin," Gloria announced, sitting up straighter, "I'd like to propose that Raven take charge of the musicaldirection for our theatrical performance. She has experience with large audiences, creative vision, and—"
"No," Raven said flatly.
Gloria blinked. "I haven't finished."
"Don't need you to. The answer is no."
"But surely with your background…"
"I agreed to help. I didn't agree to musically direct your am-dram society's fever dream." Raven took a sip of her coffee. "Pick something else."
There was a beat of awkward silence.
"Right," Annabelle said brightly, making a note. "So, musical direction is still open. That's absolutely fine. We'll sort that out later. Now, let's talk about what we're actually going to do."
She flipped to a new page in her notebook, and Raven watched with a mixture of horror and fascination as Annabelle's face lit up with enthusiasm.
"I've been thinking," Annabelle continued, "we definitely need multiple events. Variety, you know? So I've made a list of the best ideas we’ve had: bake sales, definitely plural because one won't raise enough. Book donations, we could partner with Blossom for that. A talent show, obviously, that's where the children can really shine. Oh, and, a late addition to the list, what about a fun run? I've never organized one before, but how hard can it be?"
"Very hard," Arty said dryly. "Insurance alone is a nightmare."
"Oh." Annabelle's smile didn't waver. "Well, we have plenty of other things. What else? So, there’s our raffle. And a sponsored read. The children will get pledges per book they finish."
"What about autographs?" Daisy piped up, looking at Raven with stars in her eyes. "Raven could sign things and people could donate for them."
"Absolutely not," Raven said.
"But people would love—"
"No."
"It's just that you're famous, and—"
