Eleven O'Clock Number

MUSICAL #8: ANNIE

08: YOU'RE A DRAMA QUEEN, PUN INTENDED

 « why any kid would want to be an orphan is beyond me. »

 "I ACTUALLY kinda like this one," Allison confesses to Toby around halfway through Annie. He turns to give her a smug smile.

"Doth mine ears deceive me? Allison Reed? Liking a musical?"

"Trust me, this is the exception, not the rule," Allison says dryly. "I used to watch this, like, all the time when I was younger."

"Everyone did," Toby tells her, watching the ginger child talk to the president. "My mom and I would literally watch it every weekend before she..." he trails off, and it's enough for Allison to shoot him a glance out of the corner of her eye. She watches him shake his head to himself, frowning. "We used to watch it all the time," he corrects.

Allison eyes Toby carefully, taking in the way his eyes are fixed unwaveringly on the TV screen and his shoulder muscles are tensed up. Part of her wants to press a little further, but the rest of her has enough presence of mind to know that that would not be a good idea. Instead, she moves a little closer to him on the couch, letting their knees barely touch and hoping sincerely that there's nothing too wrong. And when Annie sings Tomorrow again at the end of the film, she lets him sing along extra loud and doesn't complain even once.

✦

"Allison?"

"Hm?"

"You're humming Tomorrow again," her mother arches an eyebrow. "I didn't know you had such an...investment in that song."

Allison forces down the blush threatening to colour her cheeks. "It's no big deal," she says lightly. "I just...I don't know. I got it in my head, I guess."

"What, did someone make you watch Annie for the first time in ten years?" Her mother asks with amusement in her voice.

"Something like that," Allison says vaguely, thinking how it's weird how right she is.

"Well, thank them for me," her mother laughs.

"What?" Allison frowns.

"You're literally walking around with a smile on your face. And let me tell you, that's a very rare occasion."

"Gee, thanks, mom," Allison rolls her eyes.

"I'm just saying! You know I love you."

"Me too."

✦

"I regret agreeing to your idea. This isn't going to work out."

"It will, if you stop being such a pessimist – "

"Me? A pessimist? That's rich!"

"Ugh," Lydia growls at Emmett. "You're impossible. And that's not a compliment," she snaps when he opens his mouth. He closes his mouth immediately.

"Cheer up, Lydia," Allison says absently, poring over her History books. "The sun'll come out tomorrow."

She looks up when a silence far too long to be normal ensues, raising an eyebrow at the dumbfounded expression on both Lydia and Emmett's faces. "What?" she asks.

"Did you just...make an Annie reference?" Lydia asks slowly.

Allison blinks.  "Oh," she says. "Sorry. Slip of the tongue."