Troy went on to talk for a few moments about the process of construction, and flipping houses. The students peppered him with more knowledgeable questions than Alison would’ve predicted, based seemingly mostly on their knowledge of house flipping reality shows, and Troy answered them amiably.
When he handed the floor over to Alison, she was surprised to see several students pull out cameras or their smart phones and snap pictures of her. She wouldn’t have predicted the pre-teen population of Valentine Bay would be such rabid fans of the Great White Way.
It all became clear, though, when the questions they shot at her all centered on her time as a judge on Broadway Baby.
“Do you think Gemma should’ve won?”
“Is Steve Apolonia really as mean as he seems?”
“Why did you use your Softshoe Save on Fiona? She was, like, the worst!”
And on and on. And on. Damn, these kids really were reality show junkies!
Alison did her best to answer the questions as diplomatically as she could. It was tougher than any magazine interview she’d ever been a part of. The thing about eighth-graders was they had no filter when it came to asking an awkward question. If they were curious about something, they’d just throw it out.
While they were not disrespectful to her in any way, they also had no innate sense about whether a question would be impolitic. They just asked about the things they wanted to know. It was refreshing in a way, but it also made them extremely hard to field, and by the time her five minutes was up, she felt as drained as she ever had after a long day of rehearsals.
As she walked with Troy back down the hall toward the parking lot, he turned to her. “I’ve got time before I need to be on the jobsite. Lunch?”
She smiled sardonically. “Since I take it day drinking’s not an option, then, yes, please. Lunch would be fantastic.”