Lock-In: A Teen Dramedy (4) Not much. Just came over to talk. Mike Oh, for a second there I thought you were going to rape me. Mia (playfully shocked) Mike! Mike I’m just playin. So what’d you want to talk to me about? Mia (searching for an answer) I…came to ask you what you were doing for your skit. Mike Ah. Sorry. I’m sworn to secrecy. All I can tell you is that it’s comedy. If I tell you anymore Eddie and Josh will beat me with sharp pointed sticks. Mia That could hurt. Mike Probably. Now I have a question for you though. Mia Ok. Mike Are you going to Josh’s party tomorrow night? Mia (trying to hide her contempt) No. Isn’t it a stoner party? Mike (disappointed) I guess. Mia Are you goin? Mike I don’t think so. Mia Why not? Aren’t you and Eddie good friends with Josh? Mike (adjusting his cap nervously) Yeah. But whenever we get together, we just smoke up and get into weird crap. (Mia nods) I’m getting tired of it, I think I’m going to quit smoking. Mia (playing it safe) Cigarettes? Mike And weed too. Mia (encouraged) That’s good though. Mike Yeah it’s just getting old, y’know? Mia (hopefully) So if you’re not going to the party, what are you doin tomorrow night? Mike Well since you asked— At this point Eddie comes back onto the stage from the door he exited. Eddie C’mon man, you got my stuff. What’s takin you so long? Mike (angrily) All right! Damn! (To Mia) I’ll talk to you later. (He grabs her hand and kisses it) Goodbye, M’lady. Mia (matching his English accent) Farewell kind sir. Mike exits. He and Eddie are arguing as they depart. The girls come over as soon as he is gone. Leah What did he say? Mia We just talked about little stuff. Amy Like? Mia He said he was going to quit smoking. Amy Stoners always say that. Mia (looking downhearted) Yeah well. Mia gets up and moves over to where the girls were previously standing. Amy follows still asking questions. Leah bends down to survey the remaining pizza. Rob comes out of the stage hallway entrance and comes over, seemingly to get napkins. Rob Hey. Leah Don’t start. Rob Just tell me what she said. Leah Why don’t you ask her? Rob Cause I gotta know what was said so I can know what to expect. Leah (jumping off the stage) Come with me. (she begins to walk toward the back of the theatre) Rob Where are we going? Leah (stopping) I’m taking you to her. I’m sick of this he said, she said BS! You two need to talk dammit! Rob Why can’t you just tell me what she said? That’s the reason why I sent you to talk to her in the first place! Leah I did you a favor! Rob How would I know? You haven’t told me anything! Leah (really getting upset) Look! If you really wanna know, she said that she wanted your stupid ass to come talk to her yourself, instead of sending me! That’s what she said. Rob That was the whole conversation? Leah (exasperated and looking at the ceiling) I know I’m talking because I hear my voice, why doesn’t he understand? Listen; don’t bother me with this crap anymore, I told you what to do. (Continues where she was walking) Rob Where are you goin? Leah (without turning around) To tell her the same thing. Leah keeps walking. Rob turns around and walks back. Ryan, Stills, Janni, and Curran are there. Ryan What happened? Rob Leah still won’t tell me what Zoe said to her earlier. Stills Pardon my asking, but why don’t you just go talk to Zoe and ask her? Janni smacks Stills in the head. Rob Because Stills, I gotta know what the situation is before I go in there and tell her how I feel you know? I just gotta make her understand. INT. THEATRE--FANTASY MUSICAL SEQUENCE (NIGHT) At this point the camera zooms in on Rob’s head, more importantly, his forehead. Then it fades out. When it does, all five boys are standing in a formation. N’SYNC’s “It’s gonna be me” starts playing in the background. As the music goes, Rob begins to lip-sync to the words and dance. All dance clumsily and semi-synchronized. The boys lip-sync the chorus as they dance on the stage and in the work area below it. The scene is mostly comedic; Stills and Curran fall over each other in the dance steps, a fight breaks out between Stills and Janni during the breakdown over a girl while the others chill with other girls. It’s shot like a music video. The dance steps are choreographed for hilarity. Stills does the “Bye bye bye” motions during one of the scenes and gets smacked by Janni. Curran freaks out and grabs his chest running all over the stage at one point. Ryan and Janni throw him off the stage. At the end of the breakdown, all boys fall off the stage in order from Curran to Rob, then a shot of the boys on the ground as Rob says “It’s gonna be me.” The song ends with the boys in weird individual poses. The camera goes back to the scene. Curran Yo Rob! You in there? Rob (startled) Oh yeah. Ryan What were you thinking about? Rob You really don’t want to know. INT. THEATRE LOBBY (NIGHT) The double-doors to the middle hall between the regular and theatre lobbies open and Leah comes striding in. Zoe is there with Maryruth and the rest of her group and a few guys too. Zoe, Brenna and Sarah are talking but Leah interrupts them, grabbing Zoe’s hand and dragging her away from the other two girls. Zoe What the hell? Leah Why haven’t you talked to Rob yet? Zoe I…haven’t had a chance to yet. Leah What about now? Maryruth has stopped her conversation with a guy, abruptly to hear what is being said. Zoe I can’t… well he hasn’t come to talk to me either! Leah I don’t believe this…did you not understand what we talked about earlier? Zoe I did but it’s not so easy to just say that to someone, ok! Leah In spite of what it will do to him you have to tell him. Zoe Should we be talking about this here? Leah I don’t care. (Looking around) I just want to let you know I’m not going to play messenger between you two anymore, it’s not my job and I hate it. When you work up the courage to talk to Rob let me know how it turns out. Leah walks away and goes to the door, she opens it halfway when Zoe calls her. Zoe Leah! Leah (turning around) What? INT. THEATRE LOBBY—FANTASY MUSICAL SEQUENCE (NIGHT) When Leah turns around Zoe is standing with her hands on her hips. Britney Spears’ “Oops I did it Again” begins to play over the soundtrack. Zoe lip-syncs to the words. All the guys and girls become back-up dancers to Zoe, including Leah. Zoe messes with the boys. The choreography again is done for comedy but is more serious than the boys’ song. There is a train, booty shaking, the hand jive, and girls without rhythm. Zoe looses herself in the song, making for funny moments. At the end Zoe and everyone is in a funny position. Then it goes into Zoe’s face and comes back out to the previous scene. A shot of Leah. Leah (more impatiently) WHAT?! Zoe (confusion giving way to a apologetic look) Thanks… Leah exits as Lifert comes into the little space. Maryruth has a strange smile on her face. Liefert Showtime folks. Everyone back in the theatre. INT. THEATRE (NIGHT) Everyone is sitting back in the theatre in the front center section. Liefert gets up from his desk and moves for a seat of his own in the audience. Liefert Okay. This is the start of your improvs, I’m really for the most part, looking forward to them. And since they volunteered, Curran, Andy and Ryan Lokey will be going first. Curran, Stills and Lokey happily get up and jump up on the stage. They give a little preamble about their skit, then start. It all seems to be going good, until out of nowhere, Curran and Lokey begin to throw Stills off the stage. As he falls off there are several shots of him in the air. (Bullet Time) One from the front, one from below, one from behind, one from the left, one from the right. He seems to hover in mid-air… before falling hard and painfully to the ground. There is a shot of the audience’s reaction; they all seem to feel Stilling’s pain. There is an audible simultaneous groan. Curran (with a smile) That’s it. The audience semi-claps. They get off the stage. Stills (groaning in pain) I think I’m broken. Eddie That kid may be fat but he’s got more airtime than Michael Jordan! Liefert (in a stern tone) Eddie… Eddie What dude? He does! Lifert Are you ok Andy? Stills Oh yeah. I’m fine Mr. Liefert. Curran and Lokey drag Stills (who is crumpled into a ball on the floor) out of the working area as he answers. Stills stays curled up into a ball. Lifert (shaking his head) Who’s next? Brenna (raising her hand) We’ll go. Sarah, Brenna, and Ryan get up on stage. They immediately get into their skit. It starts with all three sort of studying. Brenna keeps moving closer to Ryan as does Sarah. Finally Ryan gets up and says that he’s gotta go cause he can’t take it anymore. The girls begin to fight over him. Who gets him and whatnot. Ryan looks pleased even as both girls manhandle him. Finally, the girls decide that neither really wants him, when Ryan says they can share him. There is an “EWW” from both girls. Then they kick him out. Afterwards everyone claps and again Eddie makes a comment. Eddie You know you enjoyed that Babcock. I’m surprised you can still stand up. All the girls yell and groan at Eddie. Mike just laughs, then catches Mia’s eye and then smiles at her. Liefert (looks over at Rob) Mr. Dalton, you’ve been very quiet tonight. Not that it’s a bad thing. Rob Ha ha. Liefert You’re up. Rob, Leah and Zoe get on stage. Zoe sits on the little bench couch used in the last group. Leah and Rob talk heatedly and silently behind her. She pushes him over to her. He hesitates but finally sits down next to her. They don’t say anything to each other. Each one starts to say something to the other but they don’t. Finally Rob gets up and stalks angrily away. Leah grabs his arm but he shakes her off and walks offstage. Zoe holds her head in her hands. Leah goes over to her and prods her, but she just shakes her head. Leah walks offstage. Zoe is left alone. The audience begins to clap. Rob and Leah come out. Liefert Great skit. It was nice to see something serious done for a change and I loved the use of silence. Maybe we’ll come up with a series of improvs like that. Good acting and blocking. Very well done. Maryruth I thought it was very well acted. Rob glares at her. Liefert Who’s next? This begins a series of skits, or at least parts of them. Eddie, Mike, and Josh. Mike winks at Mia. There are a few funny clips. “Cosmic Castaway” by Electrasy plays here. Theatre kids do their thing. Shots of the audience’s reactions, Liefert making comments that you can’t hear. After a bit, the song fades and then Maryruth speaks up. Maryruth My group’ll go. Liefert Ok. Amy (to Mia) You can do this. Mia Yeah. Mia turns to look at Mike as she gets up. He mouths “break a leg” to her and she smiles. Janni gets up on stage, he helps Mia up. They sit on the mini couch together. Cheating their angle for halfway between center and stage right. They pretend to be watching TV, holding hands. Maryruth comes in behind them. Maryruth (incredulous) What the hell?! Mia (surprised and getting up from the couch with Janni) Maryruth! I can explain. Maryruth You better explain! What the hell are you doing here with my boyfriend? Mia Nothing…how did you get in? Maryruth Your mom let me in you little ho! How dare you try to steal my boyfriend! Mia Maryruth…it’s not like that I— Maryruth (interrupting) Save it. I don’t want to hear your lies. You pathetic little whore, I cannot believe you’re doing this to me after we’ve been friends for 3 three years! Mia But I— Maryruth Shut the hell up! You’ll talk when I say you can. Mia turns her back to Maryruth. She puts her hands in her hair, the more Maryruth digs into her the more she seems to be trying to pull it out. As this is happening, Linkin Park’s “One Step Closer is beginning to play on the soundtrack. Maryruth You’re such a slut! You knew that I liked Jan, so you got him over here so you could steal him away from me. You were probably going to have sex with him or something else that’s vulgar and disgusting. It just shows how much of a bitch you are that after three years you can just stab me in the back like this, you skanky hoe! As she yells at Mia, the camera begins to focus on Mia’s face from the back, as a tear falls down her cheeks as she continues to listen to Maryruth yell at her. Maryruth is also walking slowly toward Mia. As she goes on… Maryruth’s voice begins to fade on the soundtrack as One Step Closer gets louder. Maryruth (voice fading) But then again, I should have expected like this from someone like you. People like you wait till you turn your back so you get them FROM BEHIND! Maryruth yells the last two words and with that she violently shoves Mia from behind. Mia falls forward a bit, then we see her face as she whirls on Maryruth and pushes her roughly to the floor. There are flashbacks of Maryruth messing with Mia, from the day, and they end just as “One Step Closer” finishes. Mia (freaking out and pointing to Maryruth lying on the floor) Why don’t you SHUT THE HELL UP YOU EVIL BITCH! The audience is stunned. Specific shots of Leah, Mike, and Amy. Janni says: Jan Damn! Mia glances at him then back at Maryruth for a moment, the fear comes back, then abruptly is gone. Maryruth is too shocked to speak. Mia (pointing at her and still freaking out) You know why I did this to you? To get you back for all the crap you put me through for the last 3 years. You say you’re my friend…bull! You’re just an evil little bitch, who doesn’t care about anyone but yourself, and I’m glad to be causing you any pain that I can because I hate you! And I’m not gonna let you dump on me anymore. Mess with me again and you gotta ass whuppin coming bitch! She stalks offstage. Maryruth, dumbfounded, stays on the floor. Then a second later, Mia comes back on stage for a bit. Mia (forcefully) Are you coming Jan or not? Jan does a funny walk/run offstage. The audience explodes into applause. Then they both come back, Mia is back to normal, and she is smiling again. There are catcalls and whistles, Eddie makes loud comments. Zoe, Brenna, and Sarah do not stand. Rob, notices Zoe not standing but does not stop clapping. Finally Liefert gets everyone calmed down, and the actors sit on the stage. Liefert Nice work, folks. Very nice work. There was great chemistry between you three. I thought it was well acted, very well staged, and it was good to see Mia breaking out of her mold, it’s been something I’ve been waiting to see and I finally got it. In spite of the language which I wasn’t crazy about but worked. Mia, why don’t you audition for the spring musical? Mia I was thinking about it. Liefert Good. I’m very interested to see what you can do. Maryruth, Jan, you guys were great too, once again Jan, you held your own even though you didn’t say much. Jan Thanks. Maryruth still just looks stunned. Liefert Is that all the skits folks? Audience Yes. Liefert Oh good. Although I was pleased with the majority of them, especially that last one, but I think it’s time to move on and do something a little lighter, how about a game of Murder. The audience reacts enthusiastically. Liefert Get up and move around the theatre. Everyone gets up to move. Rob goes over to talk to Jan, Maryruth’s gang goes over to talk to her, and several people who want to talk to Mia join Amy and Leah. The camera goes back to Ryan who is still sitting. He turns around to speak. Ryan Did you see that?! I never saw that one comin. (gets up) You just witnessed history. Things aren’t going to be the same in school after that. It’ll be interesting to see how this affects Mia, and Maryruth. (a commotion from an excited Curran, Stills and Lokey is heard, the camera briefly views them playing ring around the rosy, Ryan laughs) But I’m going to tell you about a favorite theatre game of ours called Murder. It’s real simple: Mr. L first chooses a killer (views Liefert touching someone on the shoulder). Then, that person goes around like everyone else, pretending not to be the killer, but when they touch you, then you know they are the killer and you’re supposed to die. Make sense? Of course not. Just watch. INT. THEATRE—MUSICAL SEQUENCE (NIGHT) Blink 182’s “Dammit” begins to play on the soundtrack. The murder game begins in earnest. You see people getting touched and dying in funny and interesting ways. There are comedic moments from Curran, Stills, and Lokey, as well as Leah, Little Lokey, Ryan, anyone with a funny death scene, and finally Rob and Janni. It lasts for most if not the entire duration of the song. As the song winds down, so does every one else. Rob looks up from his position on the floor (by the doors at the back of the theatre) and finds himself staring at Maryruth who saw his little comedic moment and comes over to bother him and reassure herself. Maryruth Hey Rob. Rob Aww crap. What do you want Maryruth? (He sits up and puts his back to the wall) Maryruth I’m trying to clear up a rumor. Rob (sarcastically) No! Maryruth It’s true. Lifert (calling from the front of the theatre) All right folks! The rest of the night you have to yourselves. I’ll be back in a moment; I have some work to do in my office. (he exits) Rob (still sarcastic) What didja hear Maryruth? Maryruth Just some new stuff about you and Zoe, and now Leah. I just wanted to get your side of the story. Rob Whoa, whoa, whoa. Why don’t you tell me what you know first. Maryruth Well, I heard that you sent Leah to talk to Zoe, but earlier Leah said that she was trying to get you and Zoe to talk to each other. Rob That’s all true so far. Maryruth Except Zoe said something like she was having trouble talking to you because she didn’t want to hurt you or something, what did she mean? Rob Ah! I see, you share and now you want me to fill in the gaps? (stands up) Maryruth (smiling) Correct. Rob (also smiling) You know what Maryruth…screw you! (voice rising) I’ve had just enough of all your BS and gossip, and screwing people over! You’ve been screwing me over since Zoe and I started! Maryruth (startled) But I— Rob (interrupting and getting very loud now) SHUT THE HELL UP! (coming towards her menacingly, Maryruth backs up) THIS IS THE LAST TIME I LET YOU SCREW WITH ME MARYRUTH! YOU’RE AN EVIL, SADISTIC, LITTLE BITCH! SO WHY DON’T YOU CRAWL BACK TO WHATEVER CIRCLE OF HELL THAT YOU CAME FROM AND GET THE HELL OUT OF MY FACE! Eddie (from the front of the theatre) Whoo, somebody got told! Maryruth looks around, everyone is looking at her and Rob, who’s breathing hard. He storms out of the doors behind him, and she goes to sit down. There is a shot of her face as a tear rolls down her cheek. Everyone goes back to his or her conversations nervously. Her gang stays where they are at the front of the theatre. Zoe, shoots her a look but Maryruth looks away at the floor. There is a shot of legs walking past. It’s Leah on her way to Rob. There is a shot of Ryan as she walks by. INT. THEATRE LOBBY (NIGHT) Once again Leah bursts through the double doors angrily. Rob is sitting on the bench outside. Leah What the hell is the matter with you? Rob God! Just leave me alone Leah I don’t want to talk. Leah Fine. You just screwed yourself anyway. Rob What the hell are you talking about?! Leah With Zoe! Do you really think she’s going to be happy with you after what you did to her best friend? Rob She had it coming. She’s responsible for this whole mess between me and Zoe!
Copyright © 2001 Robert G. Hagans |