Chapter 5 - Mary Anne II

The next day, I was still asleep at eight.

"Aren't you and Mary Anne going to spend the day together?" asked Sharon.

"Not right now. Mary Anne doesn't get up at this hour," replied Dad.

I got up an hour later and came downstairs.

"Morning, honey," smiled Dad.

"Morning," I said.

"We can spend our day together in an hour," said Dad.

"Sounds good to me," I said.

After breakfast, I went to get dressed to get ready. Dad and I left the house to spend the day at around ten. We always enjoy to spend entire day together. I got sort of quiet on the way. Why? I'm worried about the way Dawn treated me last night. Dad noticed how quiet I was.

"You've been quiet since we left the house. Is everything okay, Mary Anne?" asked Dad.

"I'm just worried about Dawn. She's been behaving strange since I got excited about the role. I thought she'd be happy for me," I replied. "I like telling people when I get excited about it."

"I know," said Dad.

"I told her it's normal to feel that way. I hope she'll realized that," I said. "The others get mad at her when she doesn't let me tell anyone how excited I am about playing Annie."

"You should try talking to her later on," suggested Dad.

That makes sense to me.

"Maybe," I said.

Later that afternoon, back at home, I wasn't exactly ready to talk to Dawn because I knew she might be act worse even more. Then it came to me: I think she's jealous that she didn't get a part. How am I supposed to tell Dawn how I'm worried about her because the way she's been acting since I got the part of Annie? I can't help being excited, it's my business. That night, at six, I was a nervous wreck. Dad came up to me.

"Dinner's ready, Mary Anne," said Dad.

"I'm too worried to eat anything at this moment," I said.

"Are you okay? Did you talk to Dawn yet?" asked Dad sitting next to me.

I just shook my head and said, "I'm trying to figure out what to say. I don't know if she might be jealous of me because she's the understudy of an older orphan. I just want to tell how worried I am about her."

"That could be a good start," agreed Dad.

"I'll talk to her when I'm ready," I said.

"Take your time," said Dad squeezing my hand.

It took me forever to be ready to have a talk with Dawn. Unfortunately, I still wasn't ready to do so. After dinner, Dad knocked on the door and came in to be with me.

"Are you alright now?" asked Dad.

"I'm still not ready to talk to Dawn," I replied. "I don't know how it would go. I got a bad feeling it might not go very well."

At eight-thirty, I managed to talk to Dawn to let her know how she worries me about her behavior.

"I'm perfectly fine," said Dawn.

"It's not the way you've been acting. Are you jealous since you only got the understudy for an older orphan? If you were excited, I'd let you keep talking about it," I said.

"No you...," Dawn started.

"Yes I would. I don't interrupt like you do. That is very rude," I cut her off. "You know what? Forget what I told you I'm done talking to you."

I took off as I headed back to my room. I knew this would happen.

"How rude," muttered Dawn.

I didn't hear what she said, but I don't care, I ignored her anyway.

"Uh-oh. I bet that didn't go very well," said Dad after he noticed how mad I was. "I'll go see Mary Anne."

In my room, I was on the windowseat. Dad knocked and came in as he sat next to me.

"What happen? I'm guessing that didn't go well at all," said Dad.

"I'm done talking to her," I said as I told him about it. "So, I also said to forget what I said."

"I don't blame you, sweetie," said Dad.

In the middle of the night, I was wide awake at twelve-twenty-five. I'm still concerned about Dawn. In fact, I had tears rolling down. I got out of bed and went to sit on the windowseat. When Dad came in before he went to bed, he noticed I was up and went to sit with me.

"It's late, sweetheart, are you okay?" asked Dad.

"I'm still concerned about Dawn," I replied. "It breaks my heart about it."

"I know," said Dad comforting me.

Three hours later, I had a bad dream about it and woke up from it. In fact, it came back within two hours later. I could not go back to sleep at all. I was shaking. I guess Dad knew because he came in to be with me.

"Are you okay?" asked Dad.

"I woke up from two bad dreams two hours apart. I'm still worried about Dawn," I said.

"It'll be alright," said Dad stroking my hair.

The next day, I had a bad day especially at home.

"Don't even think about embarrass me telling anyone about your part," said Dawn.

I ignored her. If I want to talk about it, it's my choice, not hers.

"Are you listening to me?" asked Dawn.

I still ignored her as I got up to be away from her and stare out the window. It was raining and I was b-o-r-e-d.

"Stop ignoring me," said my sister.

"Leave me alone, I'm not even talking to you right now," I said as I went up to my room.

Dawn rolled her eyes.

"Don't roll your eyes," said Sharon. "She did nothing wrong to you and all you ever did was stopping her from telling people about her part. After all, she is the star of the play. What if they want to ask her? She noticed you've been behaving very weird and it needs to end. She tried to talk to you until you gave her a hard time."

"But it's so tiring to hear it," said Dawn.

"No buts. It's her business, not yours," said my stepmother firmly.

In my room, I was reading a book of Little Women when I heard a knock on my door as I opened a bit and noticed it was Dawn.

"Go away. You've been very rude to me. I told you it's normal to be thrilled. What's wrong with that? Nothing. So, just go away," I said as I shut the door to lock it.

I went back to reading Little Women.

"Mary Anne, it's time for lunch," I heard Sharon said.

I wasn't hungry at all. Dad was out back doing a few things in the rain. Sounds weird, huh? He does that if it's raining light enough. If it's raining hard, forget it.

"Mary Anne, it's lunchtime," said Sharon again.

I still didn't come down.

"Is Mary Anne okay?" asked Dad who came back in.

"I'm not sure she didn't come down at all," replied my stepmother.

"I'll go see if she's alright," said Dad as he came up. "Mary Anne, sweetie."

I was relieved to hear his voice, so I got up to unlock and opened the door.

"Is everything okay? You didn't come down for lunch," said Dad.

"I'm just not hungry," I said.

"How's everything this morning?" asked Dad.

"Worse. Dawn's driving me nuts," I replied as I told him about it. "My heart's still breaking to see her behavior."

"I know," said Dad putting his arm around me.

That night, Dawn made me feel even worse. I noticed her with Logan telling her that I've been driving her 'crazy'. He just laughed and told her to drop it. She even told him I'm not speical playing Annie. Once I heard that, I was mad and hurt at the same time. Not special? That was when I burst into tears and ran up to my room.

"What did Dawn do this time?" asked Sharon.

"I know, this is getting old now. We need to punish Dawn if we have to," said Dad.

Logan came in to tell them about what Dawn said.

"Really?" asked Sharon. "Where is Dawn?"

"She's out there," replied Logan. "I guess Mary Anne heard that because I saw her burst into tears."

"I'm glad you told us that. I'll go see Mary Anne," said Dad.

In my room, I was on the windowseat while I was crying. Dad came in and noticed that as he went to sit with me. I was facing the window and had my face buried in the pillow. I didn't notice him there when I felt him putting his hand on my shoulder squeezing it.

"Logan just told me about what Dawn said about you," said Dad.

I was still facing the window while I was still crying. He was rubbing my shirt to comfort me.

"It's going to be okay, sweetie," said Dad.

He turned me over and put me on him as he had me around him while he was stroking my hair. When I noticed it, I hugged him tightly.

"It'll be alright," said Dad. "She must have really hurt you."

I just nodded while I just kept crying. I didn't say a word for the entire time. That was when Sharon came by.

"How she is doing?" asked Sharon.

"You could tell Mary Anne is hurt," whispered Dad.

"Dawn is grounded until she apologizes to Mary Anne," said my stepmother.

"Good idea," agreed Dad.

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