Our Centers for Ethics:

CC! activities created by schools and youth groups

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"Taking a Stand": Scene 2

2. BEFORE SCHOOL

KIDS ENTER from different areas of the stage and sides of the audience. They quickly form into groups so that one kid, STACY, is alone down left.

STACY
(to audience)
I’ve only been going to this school
for a couple of days. I’m the new kid. My
name is Stacy, but most people don’t
call me that. They say,“Oh, it’s the new kid”.
It’s hard fitting in when everyone is already
in a group.

(EVE enters up right and stands alone.)

I’ve met one friend. Her name
is Eve. I think she’s a friend. She seems nice.

VICTIMS - WALLY, JESSIE, DANNY AND ALEX reenter and cross from up left to down right. They stop when they see Stacy.

STACY
(to the Victims)
Hi Wally, Jessie. Hi Danny, Alex.

WALLY
Yeah, uh, uh, uh -
(clicking fingers)
New Kid.

DANNY
(to Stacy)
Hi.
(to Wally)
Her name’s Stacy.

WALLY
Yeah, right.

ALEX
What are you doing standing all alone?
I mean, you want to hang out with us? You
can if you want to. I mean, really. We don’t mind.
We’re just kind of walking around. I mean, that
way you have someone to walk with. That
would be better, wouldn’t it, than standing alone?

WALLY
Maybe she wants to stand alone.

ALEX
Oh! Well, yeah. I mean, if you want to
stand alone, why not? Right? There’s
nothing wrong with that. Is there?

PAUSE

WALLY
We hang out in this small group, but really,
we have a lot more friends.

STACY
Oh.

Eve crosses to Stacy.

EVE
(to Stacy)
Hi. How are you doing?

ALEX
Fine. How are you? I-- You were
talking to me, right? I mean---
(pause)
Never mind.

DANNY
(to Alex)
Do you have to be so embarrassing?

STACY
(to Eve)
Umm, I’m doing fine. How are you?

WALLY
Pretty stuck up for a new kid.

POPULAR GIRLS - GERTRUDE, CANDY, MANDY, & SANDY reenter and cross to Center Stage.

CANDY
Oh my God! It’s like, the losers.

Victims, Stacy and Eve look at the Popular Girls.

GERTRUDE
(to Eve and Stacy)
Not you, those losers.

STACY
Do you know them?

EVE
They’re the real popular girls at this school.
Gertrude’s the leader. That’s Sandy, Mandy
and Candy.

STACY
What are they like?

EVE
They’re OK. They get all the attention.
I guess some people are just born lucky.

MANDY
(pointing to Wally)
Look what he’s wearing.
Where do you shop, Ross?

SANDY
Dork alert!

WALLY
They like me. I can tell.

ALEX
Yeah, yeah. I can tell too.

CANDY
Their mothers probably still dress them.

SANDY
Spaz city.

GERTRUDE
(to Pop Girls)
Don’t make fun of Eve.

CANDY
Like, one good reason not?

GERTRUDE
I’m thinking about letting her into our group.

MANDY
You’ve got to be kidding me.

SANDY
Time out.
(pointing to each of them)
Sandy, Mandy, Candy, ---and Eve?

CANDY
It’s like, her name doesn’t even rhyme. Hello!

GERTRUDE
Have you seen any of her test? Their
like, all perfect, and she turns in all her homework.

CANDY
Good for her. She can apply for geek school.

GERTRUDE
If my grades don’t go up, no more hanging
at the mall. If she’s in our group, we get
her homework and she’ll make cheat sheets
for me.

SANDY
But, she’s such a dork.

MANDY
She hangs out with that new kid.
What does that tell you?

CANDY
She can’t get friends anywhere else.

THE DUDES ENTER - SPIKE, MOE, BUD, and NACHO.

SPIKE
(pointing at the Victims)
Hey, the dweebs.

MOE
Yeah, the Barbies are like, standing close to them.

BUB
Yeah.

NACHO
I wonder what they’re doing.

Sandy sees the Dudes and waves to them.

SANDY
Hello boys.

NACHO
That Barbie’s checking me out.

SPIKE
Don’t kid yourself.
She’s looking at me.
(waves back to her)
Hi Sandy.

SKEETER saunters in, looks around at the different groups, heads over to Eve and Stacy.

SKEETER
Eve, what’s happening?

EVE
Hi Skeeter, not much.

SKEETER
I bet you got the homework for math.

EVE
And?

SKEETER
Can I see it?

EVE
No.

SKEETER
(to Stacy)
You’re the new kid, Stacy, right?
(Stacy nods her head)
You do the math homework?

EVE stands behind Skeeter and waves “no” to Stacy.

STACY
No.

SKEETER
See ya.
(Skeeter crosses to Victims)
Any of you do the math homework.

VICTIMS
No.

SKEETER
Come on, man. You’re computer geeks.

EVE
(pointing to Skeeter)
Skeeter the Cheater. He’s always trying to
bum homework.

STACY
(looking at Dudes)
Who are they?

EVE
They're the Dudes, Spike, Moe, Bub, and Nacho.

STACY
Do you talk to them?

EVE
They’re OK. Sometimes they can
get annoying.

STACY
How.

EVE
If you don’t mind one-word dialogue,
they’re fine.

Everyone freezes as Bud steps foreword to the audience.

BOB
She’s right. Acting dumb can make you a
lot of friends.
(turns thumb back to Dudes)
They’re not bad guys. Actually, they make good
friends, but they wouldn’t like me if they think
I’m smarter than them. Sometimes I feel
like a coward, pretending to be someone I’m not.
But at least I fit in.

BOB walks through the frozen crowd.

BOB
Just another day, and everyone is doing
their best to “fit in”. It’s hard to be honest.
If you say the wrong thing, you might lose
your spot in the group.

CORY, the Bully, enters. The Victims see him first.

WALLY
It’s Cory. Let’s get out of here.

As the Victims exit, Skeeter follows them.

SKEETER
(calling after the Victims)
Hey, hold on. I know you got the answers.

As Skeeter exits, Sandy calls out.

SANDY
Hi Skeeter.

(Skeeter turns, starts to walk towards her, She puts her hand up.)

Just kidding.

SKEETER
(exits after the Victims)
Hey! Wait up!

CORY
(walking through the Pop Girls)
Hey Barbies, watch where you’re going.

GERTRUDE
Oh my God. Get the Lysol.

SANDY
Hi Cory.

CINDY
Like, if you say hi to him, it’s like,
you’re just encouraging him.

Cory crosses to the Dudes.

CORY
(to Spike)
What are you looking at?

SPIKE
Nothing.

NACHO
Yeah, he’s like, looking at you, so like,
he looking at nothing. Get it? Get it?

Nacho makes a goofy laugh as the rest stare at him in silence, Cory getting angry.

CORY
No. I don’t get it. Why don’t you explain it
to me?

NACHO
Well, it’s like---
(He sees everyone starring at him in silence
and realizes he said the wrong thing.)
Uh, did I say that?

MOE
Uh, I got to go my locker.

SPIKE
Yeah. We’ll go with you.

BUB
(to Cory as they exit across stage)
Yeah. Later Dude.

The Dudes exit.

GERTRUDE
Hey Eve, come here.

Eve crosses to Pop Girls. She turns to see Stacy still in the same spot.

EVE
(to Stacy)
Come on.

Stacy crosses about half way, but is stopped with a comment.

SANDY
Not you. Her.

EVE
(to Gertrude as Stacy goes back to her spot.)
What do you want?

GERTRUDE
How would you like to join our group?

EVE
(a little shocked at the abruptness)
Oh. Yeah, that would be cool.

GERTRUDE
Great.
(to other Pop Girls)
What do think, girls?
(they stare at her with blank or disgusted looks)
See? everybody likes you. You’re one
of the popular girls now.

EVE
Sounds like fun. Would you like to
meet my friend?

SANDY
No, not really.
MANDY
We invited you, not her.

EVE
Oh.

GERTRUDE
You should tell the new kid you’re with
us now. She’s waiting for you to
go back over there and talk to her.

EVE
I don’t know what to say.

CANDY
Like, tell her to get lost.

EVE
That’s kind of harsh, isn’t it?

GERTRUDE
Tell her you’ll see her later.
You do want to be in our group,
don’t you?

EVE
Yes, I do, but I can’t tell her that
she’s suddenly not my friend anymore.

MANDY
Your friend? She just got here a couple of
days ago.

SANDY
Fine. If that’s your decision, nice knowing ya.

EVE
OK. Hold on. I’ll tell her.
(Eve crosses back to Stacy)
They want me to join their group.

STACY
Really? That’s great, I guess.

EVE
They’re a very special group. They
only let certain people hang around them.

STACY
Yeah. You told me that before.

EVE
So, anyway, I’m going to go over there.
 
STACY
And I’m not one of the “certain” people who
can hang out with them?

EVE
It’s probably because they don’t know
you. That’s all.

STACY
Probably.

EVE
Well. I guess I should be going.

STACY
Bye.

EVE
See ya.

Eve crosses back to the Pop Girls.

GERTRUDE
You made the right choice.

CANDY
You don’t want to be seen with the
new kid anyway. It makes it look like you
can’t get friends anywhere else.

GERTRUDE
By the way, did you finish the homework for
all the classes?

EVE
Yeah. It took me all night.

GERTRUDE
Great. Let me see it.

The Pop Girls turn from the audience as though they are exiting the scene and freeze. Mandy turns back to the audience and crosses as she speaks to them.

MANDY
That was really mean, but that’s
how Gertrude is. She loves to use people.
I’m getting really tired of everybody insulting each other.
Gertrude thinks it’s cool. She likes to insult
people, and she likes it even more when she can
push other people into insulting each other.
What’s weird, they’re my friends. It’s hard to
tell your friends that you see things differently
than they do. It’s easier to go along with it.

The rest of the Pop Girls cross to Mandy as Stacy crosses to Down Center. Mandy becomes part of the group again.

Candy speaks as the Pop Girls gather around Stacy.

CANDY
Look. The New Kid is still standing there
by herself.

SANDY
What a dork.

EVE
Her name is Stacy.

CANDY
Stupid is more like it.

MANDY
I can’t believe she came to school dressed
like that.

GERTRUDE
(to Eve)
Call her a dork and see what she does.

EVE
Why don’t we just leave her alone?

The Pop Girls all stop and stare at Eve for a moment.

SANDY
What an uncool thing to say.

The Pop Girls gather around Stacy as she moves to down center steps.

STACY
(to audience)
So I’m not good enough to hang around them,
and I don’t have any friends again.
I’m “the new kid”, so I guess that means I’m different
from everybody else. I hate being different.
Eve’s lucky she gets to be with the
popular girls. I wish I was popular too. I just
hate being alone. It means you get picked
on a lot and no one respects you.
I guess it’s OK. It looks to me like they’re
all just trying to be like each other anyway.
The more you try to fake it and be like other
people, the harder it is to be yourself.
The truth is, I don’t want to be like them. I
don’t want to look down on other people, and
take their friends away. I’ll make other friends,
and I’ll keep believing that’s there’s nothing
wrong with me, no matter what they say.

The Pop Girls take turns insulting Stacy.

GERTRUDE
Loser.

MANDY
Thrift store queen of the year.

CANDY
Pathetic.

SANDY
Worthless.

The Pop Girls turn to Eve waiting for her to join in with an insult.

She does it, but you can see she doesn’t like it.

EVE
Loner.

STACY
Maybe I’ll never be very popular, but
at least I’m not mean to other people.

POP GIRLS exit as BOB crosses to down right.

BOB
It hurts to take insults from people.
A lot of times, they do it just to be mean, and
it’s hard not to take it out on some one else.

Cory crosses to her as Popular Girls exit.

CORY
What’s up?

STACY
(a little surprised)
Oh, nothing.

CORY
Were they giving you a hard time?

STACY
I don’t know. I wasn’t really listening to them.

CORY
My name’s Cory.

STACY
Hi. I’m Stacy.

CORY
You’re new at this school.

STACY
I know.

CORY
You should think about making friends.
Otherwise, you’re not going to get much
respect around here.

STACY
I guess you’re right.

The ten–minute bell rings.

CORY
See you later.

STACY
Bye.

(Cory exits as Stacy turns back to the audience.)

I don’t know him, but I know people
don’t like him. He’s the school bully. I guess
the best thing is to try to stop thinking about all
this. I have a test first period, and I have to get
a good grade.
I wish I was somewhere else.
 

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