Eleven O'Clock Number

MUSICAL #15: HAIRSPRAY

15: LOOK, TOBY, PEOPLE WHO ARE OVERWEIGHT CAN STILL DANCE! GO GET 'EM, TIGER!

« if we get any more white people in here, this is gonna be a suburb. »

"OKAY, THAT WAS mean, but she's kinda got a point for turning Tracy down," Allison says, shovelling some popcorn into her mouth.

"Allison!"

"What?" Allison defends. "I'm just saying. Like, you still get that today, right? People get turned down in the industry because of their size or weight or whatever. It doesn't make it okay, I just meant it's normal."

Toby purses his lips. "I guess," he concedes. They lapse back into a relative silence, broken only by the occasional rustling of popcorn being taken out of the bowl sitting between them on the couch. Toby speaks only around halfway through Queen Latifah's rendition of Big, Blonde and Beautiful.

"I – uh – I used to be overweight. In middle school."

Allison glances at Toby, who has his eyes fixed on the screen. She gives him a once-over, tries to imagine the lean, tall body being chubbier, but finds it difficult. "Oh?"

"Yeah. I, um, I actually got bullied a lot for it. Because I was always wanting to be in the musicals and dance and stuff and no one thought I could do it because I was so chubby."

"Oh," Allison says softly.

"Daniel showed me this," Toby laughs fondly. "He was like look, Tracy's just like you! You can still dance! I think it's the only musical he knew before I did."

"Sounds like Daniel," Allison smiles, shaking her head. Toby nods with a matching grin, and they both let their eyes move back to the screen. Only a little way through Without Love does Allison clear her throat and resume their conversation.

"So, what changed?"

"Hm?"

"I mean, you're obviously not overweight now," Allison makes an all-encompassing gesture towards him. "What changed?"

Toby shrugs. "The summer before high school I just...had a growth spurt that evened everything out, I guess," he says. "Pretty convenient, huh?"

"I'll say," Allison snorts as Zac Efron prances around in Tracy Turnblad's bedroom. "Any other convenient things happen before high school?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Toby smirks, and it catches Allison so off-guard that she feels a light flush begin to creep up her neck. She shifts and attempts to somehow will the blush into submission before it reaches her face, thankful for the dim lighting where they're sat.

"Anyway, my whole point is that I really like this musical. Like, really," Toby continues, clearly oblivious to Allison's discomfort. "So no trash talking," he turns and points an accusing finger at her.

"I don't trash talk!" Allison protests.

"You so do!"

"I'm honest," she sniffs. "There's a difference."

Toby snorts. "Oh, sure."

"Toby!"

✦

"Hey! Allison!"

Allison halts her journey out of school, turning on her heel to see Daniel jogging up to her.

"Oh," she says, part of her surprised but most of her not because she can still recognise Daniel's voice anywhere so she kind of already knew it was him. "Daniel. Hey."