"I understand." Annabelle's voice was steady, but Raven could see the hurt in her eyes. "Thank you for telling me."
"You’re welcome." Raven shoved her hands in her pockets.
They stood there for a moment in awkward silence. Raven felt like she should say something else, something comforting, but before she could figure out what that might be, the door to the pub burst open.
"There you are." Daisy appeared. "Karaoke's starting, come on."
Annabelle managed a smile. "We're coming."
They followed Daisy back inside, where Arty was setting up the equipment. The first few performers were exactly what Raven expected: enthusiastic villagers murdering perfectly good songs with genuine joy.
Gloria did a dramatic rendition of "Memory" from Cats that was somehow both terrible and captivating.
Some bloke whose name Raven didn't know attempted "Wonderwall" and got the entire pub singing along.
Then people started turning to look at Raven.
"Oh no," she muttered, she drained the rest of her beer. But Arty slid another in front of her.
"Come on, Raven!" someone called out. "Give us a song!"
"Not happening."
"Just one!"
"Please!"
Arty caught her eye from behind the bar and gave her an apologetic shrug.
"Nope," Raven said firmly.
The crowd groaned and Raven wondered if they might start throwing rotten fruit if she didn’t agree.
And then Annabelle stood up.
"I'll do one," she said brightly.
Lily grabbed her arm. "You don't have to—"
"It's fine!" Annabelle's smile was back in full force, possibly a bit too bright. "It'll be fun!"
She made her way to the stage. The crowd cheered, clearly delighted that their beloved teacher was participating.
"Right," Annabelle said into the mic. "I'm not very good at this, fair warning. But I think…" She scrolled through the song list on the ancient laptop connected to the system. "I think I'll do this one."
The opening chords started, and Raven's entire body went rigid.
It was Krimson Khaos.
Her song. One of the band's biggest hits. The one that had launched them into proper fame.
Annabelle started singing, and it was… awful.
She was off-key in at least three different ways. She didn't know half the words and was clearly making them up as she went. Her timing was completely wrong.
But she was grinning. Actually grinning, like this was the most fun she'd had in weeks. She was bouncing slightly to the beat, completely unselfconscious, throwing herself into the performance with abandon.
The pub was eating it up. People were clapping and cheering and singing along.
