It's all about money and love. In "Guys and Dolls," Adelaide wants to marry the guy she's been engaged to for 14 years, Nathan Detroit. He's a gambler who bets Sky Masterson he can't get the doll, missionary Sarah Brown, on a date in Havana, Cuba. Sarah is wary of Sky's motives, but he fills her failing mission with a dozen sinners and they fall in love. The characters gamble with money and hearts throughout the musical because it really is all about money and love.

For the Horizon Middle School cast of "Guys and Dolls," this rings true both on and off the stage. This weekend, the profit from the ticket sales for this year's musical will be given to two of Horizon's students who are fighting cancer.

"We had a cast meeting and I suggested that we have a unique goal for what to do with our money," director Gloria Knoll said. "The students immediately, without half a second hesitation, said it should go to the kids struggling with cancer."

Horizon freshman Amber DesRoches and eighth-grader Kayla Hillestad will both receive the donation from their classmates, as well as a verbal dedication at the beginning of the shows.

"I was surprised," said Lori Hillestad, Kayla's mother. "It was a nice gesture."

Kayla was diagnosed on Sept. 6 with alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, a condition in which the cancer cells form little hollow spaces, or alveoli, in the skeletal muscle of soft tissues. She hasn't been able to attend school. She is on a year-cycle treatment plan and will be in and out of the hospital about every other week for the next couple of months while she receives chemotherapy.

"It's really nice of (the cast) to think of me," Kayla said. "My friends have been really supportive, sending me cards, talking to me and asking me how I am."

Toward the end of January, Kayla will spend five weeks in Minneapolis receiving radiation and chemotherapy. The donation from the musical will help with these medical bills.

The 60 cast members and 12 stage crew members are all Horizon choir students. They began rehearsing a middle-school version of "Guys and Dolls" on Oct. 4, so there are no racy scenes, such as the nightclub, or scantily clad girls involved as in the original Broadway version.

"It's been fun because we all get along really well," said Laura Christianson, who plays lead Sarah Brown. "We can give corrections to each other and nobody takes them harshly."

Laura, who has been in choir since fourth grade and has participated in Shade Tree Players productions, said she is really excited about her first lead role. She has five songs throughout the musical, the most challenging being "If I Were a Bell."

"I ran out of breath singing, but we've been practicing our solos every day in choir," Laura said. "I'm a little nervous about the singing."

Knoll said that this year's cast members are great for musicianship. The singing has been the easiest part to rehearse; it's the acting that's proven more difficult to teach.

"The (kids) have to use a different kind of voice, a different velocity or speed with which they speak on stage," Knoll said. "A lot of them rush; they've had to learn that acting on stage is not normal conversation."

Lead roles will be played by Lucas Rutten (Sky Masterson), Laura Christianson (Sarah Brown), Dillon Parker (Nathan Detroit) and Jacqueline DeGraff/Ashley Slickinger (Adelaide).

"Guys and Dolls" is playing this weekend in the Horizon cafetorium, today at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $7 for adults, $5 for students and seniors and are available at the door.

(Samantha Stockman is a senior at Century High School.)