Annie, Get Your Microphone! (New)

Chapter 1: The Poster

Annie was staring at the clock on the wall, it was Friday, and the mid-term break was about to start. She was so focused on the clock that she couldn't hear her teacher calling her name. "Annie! Annie!!" Annie snapped back to reality, her teacher, Ms. Fitzpatrick was standing over her, arms crossed with a stern expression. "Young Lady, did you hear me speak!?" She asked Annie. "What did you say?" Annie asked. "Put your chair on the desk!" Ms. Fitzpatrick said, loudly. Ms. Fitzpatrick was Annie's least favourite person in school, and she hated her for some rather valid reasons. For one, Ms. Fitzpatrick was a 27-year-old graduate from a low-ranking university, with a degree in Early Childhood Education. She looked like one of those vapid blonde ladies Annie saw in the movies. And she had a thick Donegal accent, so it was sometimes hard for Annie to understand what she was saying. Ms. Fitzpatrick wasn't very fond of Annie, either, Annie constantly gave her an attitude, barely does her homework, and was a very negative person in class.

Annie put her chair on the desk while giving Ms. Fitzpatrick a dirty look. "And wipe off that face, if the wind changes, you'll be stuck like that." She said, coldly. The bell then rang, and Ms. Fitzpatrick led Annie and her classmates out of the school. On the way out, something caught Annie's eye, it was a poster for a song contest called: Canadh Amhrán (pronounced: Con-id om-rin). Annie always wanted to have her voice heard, and she was a good singer for someone her age. She stopped and looked at the poster, it said the winner of the song contest will not only win a microphone but also have their song broadcast on radio. Quickly, Annie took the poster down, had a brief scan of the poster, put it in her bag, and quickly tried to keep up with her classmates. Everyone in front of Annie was talking to their friends about what they would be doing for mid-term, but Annie had no friends to talk to, mainly because she was rude and negative. Ms. Courtney was standing outside, holding Eva, waiting for Annie to come out of school, along with the other parents who were waiting for their kids/daughters, Annie saw Ms. Courtney and walked out to her. "Had a good day in school, Annie?" Ms. Courtney asked. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." Annie replied. Ms. Courtney had parked the car across the road, she and Annie crossed the road to get to the car. As Ms. Courtney drove the car home, Annie was concocting lyrics in her mind for her song to sing in the song contest. "What are you thinking about, Annie? Are you pretending to be on a stage in a far away country?" Ms. Courtney asked, looking at Annie through the rearview mirror. "No, not thinking of anything." Annie said, brushing this comment off. When they got home, Annie changed out of her school uniform (which consisted of a wine-red blouse and necktie, a blackish-grey pinafore, a white button-up shirt, and a black hair-tie), and changed into her pastel pink shirt, pale blue overall dress, and light blue scrunchies. She then took out some paper, and a pencil and sat at her desk, which was next to her bed. She spent half an hour writing lyrics, and she ended up with:

This is my new song! You can sing along, I love when you and I sing a song.

Annie felt okay with the results, she knew she could have gone with something better, but liked what she ended up with. "Beggars can't be choosers, I suppose." Annie put away her paper, fished into her bag and pulled out the poster. She sat on her bed to get a better look at the poster. The song contest was being held in the Gaiety Theatre in town, the following Wednesday. "Alright, but how am I going to get to the song contest, I know Mom wouldn't let me go." Annie thought. "Annie! Come on! We have to pick up Dee from school!" Ms. Courtney called out. Annie and Dee went to different schools, Dee was in a co-ed primary school that was across the road from a hospice, and Annie however, was in a co-ed primary school that was formerly an all-girls school (Annie's class was the first co-ed year). On the car ride back home, Annie nudged Dee. "What, Annie?" He asked. "Meet me in my bedroom when we get home." She replied. When they got back home, Ms. Courtney went to feed Eva, and their black cat Luna, and Dee was walking up to Annie's Room. "I'm so glad you came, Dee." She said. "Have a look at this poster." Annie showed Dee the poster she took from school. "Canadh Amhrán, huh? Why this?" Dee asked Annie after having a quick read of the poster. "It had always been my dream to have my voice heard." Annie replied. "I don't know, Annie, aren't you a bit young for this?" Dee asked. Annie gave him a nasty look, Dee sighed. "I'll see what I can do." He said, going downstairs to talk to their mother. She has milk-feeding Eva in the kitchen. "Mom, can I talk to you for a bit?" Dee asked. "Just wait for a second, Dee. Let me put your sister to sleep." Ms. Courtney said as she went into the living room to put Eva into her crib. "Now what do you want to talk about?" She asked. "Annie found a poster in her school about a song contest called: Canadh Amhrán, which is being held in the Gaiety Theatre on Wednesday. The winner of which will win a microphone and have their song on radio. This has, apparently, been her dream for a long time, so can you please let her go?" Dee explained. "Song contest? Microphone? Radio?" Ms. Courtney asked. "Yes." Dee replied. "No." Ms. Courtney said. "She's six, Dee, I can't have her doing something like that in front of a bunch of strange adults." "Please, Mom, I'm not listening to Annie complain all day." Dee pleaded. Ms. Courtney thought about it for a second. "Fine." Ms. Courtney said, after some thought. Dee went upstairs to Annie's Room. "Good news Annie, you're in!" Dee announced. Annie smiled, broadly. "And before I forget! Do you want to hear my song?" She asked, pulling out the sheet of paper she used to write song lyrics on. "Fire away." Dee replied.

"♪ This is my new song!
You can sing along,
I love when you and I sing a song! ♪"

"Is that it?" Dee asked Annie. "Only three lines?" Annie nodded her head. Dee went and looked at the poster. "Did they specify how long your song has to be?" He asked. "They didn't." Annie replied. "I think you should lengthen it a little more, three lines are essentially nothing." Dee said as he left the room. "You know what?" Annie thought. "No, I'm not going to." Later that night, Dee was getting a glass of water, when he saw Ms. Courtney on her laptop. "Dee, what's the name of that song contest?" She asked Dee, looking up from the screen. "Canadh Amhrán." Dee replied. Ms. Courtney typed Canadh Amhrán into the search engine. "The auditions are being held tomorrow in Tallaght (pronounced: tal-uh)." She said. "And where did you say the song contest is being held? Ms. Courtney asked. "The Gaiety Theatre. Why do you ask?" Dee replied. "Because I'm dropping you and Annie off at the theatre on Wednesday." Ms. Courtney added. "Why aren't you coming?" Dee asked. "I have to run some errands, and I won't have anyone to mind Eva that day." "Alright then." Dee said. He got his glass of water, and the head back upstairs to bed. Ms. Courtney shut down her laptop, picked up Luna, headed to bed too.