Chapter 4 - Dawn

At home, we found out that Richard's bringing home Chinese, so all we did was set the table. Mary Anne was just about to call April when Richard came home, so she'll wait until after dinner.

"Hi, sweetie," said Richard.

"Hi," said Mary Anne getting the other bag with Chinese.

"Thanks for getting that," said my stepfather.

"No problem," said Mary Anne. "Carlos! Dad just came home with Chinese!"

"Okay," said Carlos as he came down.

"We can just put the food in the bowls. Sharon's running late. Her meeting ends in five minutes," said Richard.

"Okay," said my sister. "I'll wait until she comes home to tell you both the news."

"Good idea. I can't wait to hear it," smiled her father.

"I wonder what is it about," said Carlos.

Mom came home ten to fifteen minutes later.

"Hi, Mom," I said.

"Hi, Dawn," said Mom.

"The cast list is posted today," I told her.

"Who are you playing?" asked Mom.

"The understudy for any older orphans," I replied.

"What about you, Mary Anne, honey?" asked Mom.

"Yes. First of all, Kristy talked to me into trying out for Annie. All we had to do is to sing the end verse of Tomorrow like April mentioned to me. This is funny: Cokie made a bet with me. If I win, she'd owe me ten dollars every day for two weeks and if I didn't, I'd have to do the same thing," explained Mary Anne.

They just laughed at that including Carlos.

"Unfortunately for her, she lost that bet," continued Mary Anne.

"So, you're saying you got the role of Annie?" asked Mom as my sister nodded. "Good for you."

"That is wonderful," said my stepfather as he hugged her.

"Congratulations, Mary Anne!" smiled my adopted brother.

"The others were glad for me, too. They all knew I could do it. I wasn't sure if I should, but Kristy told me if we're all in it together, I'd be just fine," Mary Anne kept on.

"That's true," agreed Mom.

"That's all we ever...," I started.

"Let her finish telling us about it," Mom interrupted me.

"Anyway, April said I can call her as soon as the cast list was posted. In fact, I was about to call her when I saw you come home, Dad, so may I call her after I help Dawn clean the kitchen?" asked Mary Anne.

"Of course of you can," replied Richard.

"April sent me one of the two copies of Annie that was videotaped when she was in it herself playing Annie. I'm glad she did because I never saw Annie. So, Kristy, Dawn, and I watched and loved it," said Mary Anne.

After dinner, I said, "Can you at least stop talking about stuff like that?"

"There's nothing wrong with that when anyone's excited about something. That's normal. Don't you realize that?" asked Mary Anne. "I'm glad Kristy talked to me into doing it otherwise I wouldn't feel that way. I do feel comfortable being on stage with our friends."

After she was done with the dishwasher, she went to get the portable phone as she dialed April's number on the way up to her room. April answered.

"Hello," said April.

"Hi, April," said Mary Anne.

"Hi, Mary Anne, how did it go with the try-outs the other day?" asked April.

"I did just fine. They did it in ABC, which was good enough for me. The cast list was up today," replied Mary Anne.

"And?" asked April.

"First of all, Kristy is playing Kate and Claudia is playing July. The next thing I knew Claudia was onto something and then she said she had a surprise to show me. Then she brought me to the cast list. That was when I noticed I was picked to play Annie," explained Mary Anne.

"Swell! I knew you could do it," said April. "I'm glad Kristy and Claudia made it, too."

"Me, too. The other girls were happy for me. I already told Dad and Sharon earlier and they were thrilled for me as well," said Mary Anne.

"Are the rest in the play, too?" asked April.

"Yes. Mallory is doing Molly, Jessi got picked to be Tessie, Stacey's The Star-To-Be, and Dawn's the understudy for an older orphan while Kayla and Kaylee have chorused parts," said Mary Anne. "Here's the funny part: Cokie Mason made a bet with me. If I win, she'd owe me ten dollars every day for two weeks and if I didn't, I'd have to do the same thing."

She just laughed and said, "You won the bet."

"Yep. So, starting Monday at the rehearsal, she's giving me ten bucks everyday," continued Mary Anne.

"Good," said April.

"She was off-key, but I was surprised she got a part," said Mary Anne.

"Who did she audition for?" asked April.

"An orphan, she's playing Duffy and this other girl, Marci, whom I'm not crazy about, is playing Pepper," said Mary Anne.

"Good luck with them," teased April.

They laughed at that.

"What I don't like about Cokie is she would try to steal my boyfriend, Logan Bruno, from me and what gets me mad the most is that he would wait until the last minute to tell her that he has me. I blame it on him for that," said Mary Anne. "I haven't seen Marci doing it like she used to do."

"I don't blame you. If I ever catch my boyfriend, Andrew Gomez, doing that, I'd smack him or break up with him," said April.

"What I do is until he apologized to me, I break up with him. I hate it when he cheats on me. If that was me, he'd be mad," said Mary Anne.

"I know, at least you wouldn't wait until the last time," said April.

"I agree with you, I always tell any boys that if they try to steal me from Logan," said Mary Anne.

"That's right," said April. "Anyway, are you free next weekend?"

"Not sure, why?" asked Mary Anne.

"I'm thinking of coming to visit you for the whole weekend starting next Friday through Sunday," replied April.

"Awesome! I like that idea," said Mary Anne.

"I already checked with my mother and she liked the idea, too since she knows I haven't seen you for a long time," said April.

"I could ask my dad now," said Mary Anne.

She did and Richard loved the idea as well. April was thrilled to hear that.

"I'll call you next Thursday to let you know about what time is my flight next Friday," said April.

"Sounds good," said Mary Anne.

"I can hardly wait until I see you again," said April.

"Same here," said Mary Anne.

After they talked, she was still thrilled about that.

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