Title: Untitled
by stephanie from Hampshire and Isle of Wight | in writing, fiction
[We see a classroom filled with teenagers chatting loudly. The room is set out at a 45 degree angle to the audience. The teacher at the front of the class is talking about stereotypical children. Three teenagers are singled out. LOUIS, a geeky boy who wears glasses, sits at the front of the class right opposite the board. CHRIS, a bully, sits at the back of the class on the left, chewing gum. The teacher turns around to the board to write something on it. CHRIS throws a paper ball at LOUIS' head. Him and his mates laugh and hi-five each other. The teacher doesn't notice. CHRISSIE, a typical teenager girl, who seems to have no problems, sits at the back on the right. She frowns when the ball hits LOUIS, but says nothing. The bell goes.]
TEACHER [above bell]: Ö÷²¥´óÐãwork! 100 words about life as a teenager by tomorrow.
[As she talks, class is filing out. LOUIS is sorting out his bag. He puts it on his back and starts tying his shoelaces on the chair. One of Chris's friends opens LOUIS's bag and another barges past him, knocking him to the floor, his books going everywhere. The group walks past, laughing. LOUIS pushes his glasses further up his nose, and tries not to cry. He starts to pick up his books. It is only him and CHRISSIE left in the room. CHRISSIE comes over and helps him.]
CHRISSIE: Tell someone you're being bullied. Stand up to them.
LOUIS [bitterly]: This is the way of the clever. To be bullied' Isn't it?
[CHRISSIE shrugs and, giving him the last of his books, leaves the room. LOUIS is left confused. He stands, looking to shout after CHRISSIE, but changes his mind. He shakes his head and, mumbling to himself, leaves the room. Lights fade out.]
[Sad music is heard, distant]
[Lights come up on a driveway. CHRIS is standing there with his mates, laughing and joking, eating fish and chips. LOUIS walks past them, head down and they jeer at him. One boy throws his wrapper at him. LOUIS pushes his glasses further up his nose and carries on past. The boys say goodbye to CHRIS and go offstage in the same direction that LOUIS went, presumably to torment him more.]
[Music gets slightly louder]
[CHRIS starts walking up the driveway to his house, but stops when he hears his parents shouting inside. He hesitates, not knowing what to do. CHRISSIE walks past. She waves at him and he nods back. She stops at the end of his driveway. She hears the shouting.]
CHRISSIE: You can't blame yourself for your parents fighting. But you shouldn't take it out on others.
CHRIS [angrily]: What the hell would you know?
[CHRIS storms into the house, slamming the door behind him. CHRISSIE stares at it for a while, smiling. She walks away. Lights fade]
[Music is easily heard now]
[Lights come up muted. We see CHRIS with his back to the front door, obviously upset. He is breathing hard. We hear his parents fighting offstage, and the sound of broken crockery is heard, with feminine screaming. CHRIS slowly falls to the floor cradling his head in his arms. Lights fade. The light stays on CHRIS a few seconds longer, then that too fades.]
[Music finishes]
[Lights up. We are back at school in the classroom. The bell goes and everyone files out. LOUIS is doing up his shoelace on the chair. One of the boys opens his bag, and another pushes him to the floor. His books go everywhere. CHRIS is standing at the back of the group, indecision written clearly on his face. CHRISSIE stands discretely at the back of the room, watching with a smile on her face. LOUIS looks down at the floor, pushes his glasses up his nose, and stands up.]
LOUIS: That's not funny guys. Just grow up already!
[The boys laugh at him and carry on out the door, except for CHRIS, who has clearly made his mind up but still he hesitates. He quickly picks up LOUIS's books, puts them on his desk, and claps LOUIS on the shoulder. He hurries off to catch up with his mates. LOUIS is left confused. He shakes his head, closes his bag and carries his books out of the room. CHRISSIE is the only one in the room now. She moves to centre stage and all lights fade apart from the one on her.]
CHRISSIE: What's a stereotypical teenager? It's Chris. It's Louis. The bully and the bullied. But where there is darkness, there is always light. I just help people to see it. To understand themselves. [Looks offstage] My work here is done. [Looks up] I'm coming Mum.
This short script is about three teenagers. One is a very clever boy who is top in every class. The other boy is a bully who is troubled at home. And the girl is just a typical teenager who is happy at home and at school. She can be acted as a conscience to the boys, or a mystical person, who doesn¿t seem exactly what the audience think. It¿s about how the boys are different, and yet the same too, as they both want to fit in. What inspired me to write this was that one of my friends at school is bullied for being different; for being cleverer than others. Louis is based on him, and Chris is the collective of the boys that bully him. This is what I think of when I think of what it means to be a young person in the UK.
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