Anne Gallagher

What a splendid name! Meanwhile, mine is just plain old Anne

Carl and I wake up to Frank's nasty hands over our mouths.
"Be quiet."
"What the hell?" Carl asks, rubbing his eyes.
"Shh. Get up. Get up!" Carl and I get out of bed.
"It's 1:00 a.m." I state, grouchy.
"Come on. Hop to it."
"Carl and Anne are awake. I'll get Debbie."
"Come on." Monica leads us down the stairs.
"Is that our Halloween candy?" Debbie asks. Frank ignores her.
"Who wants candy corn?" Frank asks. I shook my head.
"Me." Carl whispers.
"Movie night." Monica says.
"We have school in the morning." I state.
"Paranormal Activity 3?" Carl gasps.
"Right?" Monica chimes in, just as excited.
"My buddy Edgar shot this at the AMC." Frank states. as he hits play. Everyone except me takes a seat on the couch.
"It's rated 'R.'" Debbie states.
"For 'really fucking scary.'" Monica says.
"So sit there and learn." Frank spits.
"I'm gonna get Fiona." Debbie tries to get up, but Frank pushes her down.
"I'm going back to bed." I roll my eyes and stomp up the stairs. I didn't bring Carl with me, because I knew that this was one of those situations I just gotta let him learn his lesson with.

The next morning, Carl, Debbie and I walk down the stairs. Compared to me, they looked horrible. I knew they didn't't get any sleep last night, which caused them to have no energy this morning.
"I'd trade my left nut for one more hour of sleep."
"Wow, and that's the gay one." I joke. He rolls his eyes and gives me a sarcastic laugh.
"You're gonna be late for school." Fiona points out.
"Hey, I hope you're hungry-- most important meal of the day." I sit down, with a little pep in my step. Carl just stands there, starting to doze off. "Carl, sit." Monica instructs.
"House could use a spring clean." Monica points out to Fiona.
"It's November." Fiona points out. "It's like Dawn of the Dead in here. What's with you guys?" She asks Carl and Debbie. I wasn't about to snitch on them. That's the one thing that Gallagher's don't do.
"Debbie, can you get your father up? He's out in the alley by the Chopiaks' garbage cans. Help him to bed." Monica starts talking to Fiona. "Ian left for work early. Did you hear, I kicked Terry Milkovich's ass?"
"Not the first time someone's come in here fists first."
"Why don't you go for a run? When's the last time you did that?" Monica asks Fiona.
"Got too much to do."
"Uh, make lunches, make sure Anne and Carl get dressed, take them for their checkup."
"We have a check up?" I ask, getting nervous.
"Yeah, Anne, I thought I told you?" Fiona asks. I shook my head. "Hey, it'll be fine. I promise." Fiona smiles at me.
"Made lunches already. I'm here. Doesn't all have to fall on you. I'm doing better, I promise."
"Carl." Monica tries to wake up Carl, who fell asleep at the table. "Carl Gallagher. Okay, if you're not going to eat, I want your teeth brushed in two minutes. Come on, wear this."
"You Febreze it first?" I ask.
"Washed it last night." Monica answers before turning her attention to Fiona. "Why don't you go for a run? I remember when you used to run six miles before school every morning." Fiona's phone rings. She checks the caller ID before picking it up.
"Steve, is Lip okay?... No... Of course you are." She walks to the living room, and Monica and I sit in silence for a few moments.
"Anne? Can we talk?"
"Nothing to talk about, Monica."
"Of course we have stuff to talk about." She sits across from me at the table. "What's going on? You're the only one besides Lip who hasn't accepted the fact that I'm staying. Why?"
"Because I know you, Monica. You do this every time. You're here, acting like mother of the year. Then, you stop taking your meds. It all goes down from there. All the way until we either kick you out, or you split. If I don't accept the fact you're here now, then it'll be easier to go on about my life when you leave."
"Fair enough. But just you wait. I'm gonna show you that I can be a great mother. Can I ask you something?"
"I mean, I guess. I don't really have anything better going on at the moment."
"I wanna know about you. You're the only one of my kids, that I know nothing about. Lip is crazy smart. Ian wants to go to the army. Debbie is a little business woman. Carl likes to be destructive, and he likes football. What about you? What do you like? What do you want out of life?"
"Well, if you must know. I spend all my time doing school work. The goal is to get into an Ivy League school. Preferably Harvard, but I'll settle for Yale. That's my back up school. Third in line is Princeton."
"That's really impressive, Anne! I'm so proud of you. An Ivy League! How did you get to be so smart?"
"I just study a lot. Can't really do much else, considering I don't party with the rest of my siblings. Either way, I am 3 grade levels ahead of my class. But I can't be moved up in school. Because of mine and Carl's separation anxiety."
"And, do you have anyone special you're seeing right now?" Monica asks.
"There is a boy in my life. His name is Gilbert. He's my age, and just as smart as me. His parents didn't want him to switch classrooms. So him and I pretty much compete on who's the top student in the class. Right now, we're tied at first."
"Oh, honey! That's great!" I smile a bit. This was the first real moment I've ever had with Monica. And I hate to say it, but it felt nice. Fiona comes back into the room.
"Do you do any sports, or clubs?" Monica asks. Fiona pops her head up to see who Monica was talking with, and when she realized it was me, Fiona gave me a shocked expression.
"I participate in theater and church, mostly."
"Anne's always been the good kid out of the bunch." Fiona chimes in.
"I know." Monica says. "And I'm so stinking proud of the both of you." Carl comes back downstairs, ready to go to out appointment.
"Alright, kiddo's. Let's head on out." Fiona says, and the three of us head out the door.