Would You Love Me, If You Really Knew Me?

And The Winner Is...

Danny was sitting backstage eating a sandwich reserved for the performers. After getting over his deep embarrassment, he had found himself quite starved and decided to grab a bite to eat before heading home.

He had almost finished his sandwich when he heard a relieved shout from a woman behind him.

"Lord almighty! There you are!"

He turned to see Sam's mother frantically approaching him, her frilly dress fluttering with her hurried steps.

Before he could swallow the food in his mouth and ask what was wrong, the woman grabbed his arm and dragged him away.

"We were looking all over for you! We had to postpone by 15 minutes!"

"Ammpphh??" Was as intelligible as he sounded as he was dragged to God knows where.

Finally swallowing his food in his mouth, he was about to finally ask when he was pushed through a curtain that led right on to a stage.

In front of lots of people.

Danny was completely frozen in place.

'What in the world...'

A man standing in front of a podium gave him a smile, then turned to the crowd. "Finally! We present to you the newest flower to the modeling scene. Not much is known about this mysterious girl, but maybe you can learn much more on an exclusive date!"

Danny's eyes widened. 'What!??'

The man continued. "Now, remember, all proceeds go to the relief of starving children in Africa! A worthy cause indeed. Now, let's begin the bid at two thousand!

"Two thousand!" Someone from the audience yelled.

"Three thousand!" Another yelled.

Danny's heart pounded a million miles an hour. He was about to be sold to the highest bidder!

"Four thousand!"

Sam stood in the crowd and felt horrible. When she heard about Mysteria being part of the auction, she had chewed her mother out. Mysteria was not set up in the list of girls who signed up for a date auction to the highest bidder. Sam made sure of that.

But her mother, damn her, had added her to the list saying in her annoyingly fake chipper voice: "Mysteria is way too popular with the gents to pass up an opportunity like this! Imagine the money we would collect for charity! Especially if we put her first!"

Sam had not argued too much on the subject. After all, her mother couldn't auction someone who was not there.

But apparently, Danny had lingered...

"Six thousand!"

The bid was actually going quite high, but nothing Sam couldn't handle. After all, her mother's checkbook was big. "Seven thousand!" Sam entered the bidding war.

Danny felt a bit relieved hearing his friend's voice in the mix. Sam could get him out if this, right?

The bidding kept going up. "Fifteen thousand!"

"Seventeen thousand!"

These people were insane. There was no way he was worth that much.

"Nineteen thousand!"

Sam was grimacing at this point. Her limit was approaching, and fast.

But the bidding kept going up, and Sam could not go above $25,000. She glanced at him apologetically.

Danny gulped. This was seriously getting ridiculous! Did these rich men have nothing better to do??

The bidding started to reach into the $40,000's