"No — no thank-you?” she spluttered. “No ‘great job, ZeeZee’? You just come and give us mussar, as if we’re naughty little children?”

“Call it off.”

ZeeZee blinked as she lifted her head from Shani’s bed and stared at Mrs. Hurwitz, who had just appeared in their doorway.

“Huh?” She exchanged a glance with Rusi. “Call what off?”

The eim bayit stepped into their room and closed the door behind her. “The campaign for Mrs. Edelman’s daughter. You need to shut it down right now.”

ZeeZee’s eyes widened. “Are you nuts?” Catching Rusi’s aghast expression, she quickly amended, “Sorry, Mrs. H. But why in the world would we shut down a campaign that’s so successful?” She sat up and leaned over to pick up a notebook from her desk. “Look at these numbers! We’re almost up to $100,000!”

Mrs. Hurwitz’s eyes gleamed for a second, but then she sighed. “That’s amazing. But you need to send out a message to everyone involved that this campaign is closed, effective immediately.” She hesitated. “And add an apology as well.”

ZeeZee’s mouth dropped open. “Apologize?”

Rusi was looking at Mrs. Hurwitz anxiously. “Did we do something wrong?”

The eim bayit sat down on the chair next to Rusi’s desk and rubbed her forehead. “Yes, we did.” She looked at each of them and said slowly, “We were supposed to keep this campaign private. Instead, it spread to every single Shvilei alumna.”

ZeeZee lifted her chin. “So what? We did keep it private. We could’ve done one of those huge things that go all over social media — ‘She has no money to feed her kids, blah blah, click here to donate.’ But we didn’t! We only reached out to people who actually know who she is and really want to help.”

Mrs. Hurwitz raised an eyebrow at her. “Aren’t we more embarrassed in front of people we know than complete strangers?” she asked softly. “Imagine how Mrs. Edelman feels right now.”

ZeeZee’s anger rose. How dare Mrs. Hurwitz make her feel like an idiot, when she’d just invested tens of hours into raising money for Mrs. Hurwitz’s friend! She stood up. “You can’t do this! After we put in all this hard work, you tell us to shut it down, just like that? No — no thank-you?” she spluttered. “No ‘great job, ZeeZee’? You just come and give us mussar, as if we’re naughty little children?”