Chapter 7 - The Digital Firestorm
They spent the entire weekend putting the campaign together.
Chloe brought her professional camera equipment to the hospital, capturing raw, beautiful footage of Mia smiling in her hospital bed.
She filmed the custom wig, the sterile walls, and the heartbreaking reality of a seven-year-old fighting for her life.
Then, she sat Max down in front of a plain wall and asked him to tell his story.
Max spoke quietly, his voice cracking with emotion as he talked about his father leaving, his mother's struggle, and his desperate love for Mia.
He didn't ask for money directly; he simply explained the situation with absolute, devastating honesty.
Chloe spent Sunday night editing the video, adding a link to the fundraising page, and hitting the publish button on every social media platform she had.
By Monday morning, the video had a few hundred views, mostly from sympathetic students at their high school.
But by Tuesday afternoon, something incredible happened.
A famous local news anchor saw the video on Twitter, retweeted it to his massive following, and called it the most heartbreaking story of the year.
The algorithm caught fire.
During fourth period, Chloe's phone began vibrating uncontrollably in her pocket.
She pulled it out under her desk and let out a loud, involuntary gasp that stopped the teacher mid-sentence.
"Chloe, is there a problem?" the teacher asked sternly.
"The GoFundMe," Chloe whispered, holding up the phone for Max to see across the aisle.
Max squinted at the screen, his brain refusing to process the numbers flashing before his eyes.
The total raised wasn't five hundred dollars, and it wasn't five thousand dollars.
It was currently sitting at thirty-two thousand dollars, and the number was refreshing higher every few seconds.
"It went viral," Chloe mouthed to him, tears of pure joy streaming down her face.
Max felt his heart hammer against his ribs, a sudden, blinding rush of adrenaline flooding his exhausted body.
He looked around the classroom, realizing that several other students were secretly checking the campaign on their phones, grinning widely at him.
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They weren't laughing at him anymore; they were cheering for him.
For the first time since Mia got sick, Max felt the crushing weight of the world begin to lift off his shoulders.
