WE'RE NOT KIDS ANYMORE: A REALLY SHITTY LOVE STORY BY JORDAN RIETTO

WE'RE NOT KIDS ANYMORE: A REALLY SHITTY LOVE STORY (ACT 2 SCENE 1)

ACT 2 SCENE 1

*A month has passed. April greets the suburban Revenant County with warm days and hot wind followed by merciless thunder storms. Heather Grey High School writhes with angst and hormones as students begin to ask one another to prom in the most boisterous of fashions. As 9:00 AM approaches, first period ends. Off in the distance, in a small apartment complex, a girl sits on her bed with headphones at a deafening volume streaming music. Enter Shanti, an amateur artist who spends her spare time painting small and dismal murals. A slim Indian girl with long black hair and petite features. She's fully dressed in her school uniform. Tears lazily slide down her cheeks. After two songs are played off of her phone, Shanti's mother, a tall Indian woman named Harveer softly opens the door. She's fighting back tears.*

Harveer (softly)

"Get in the car, we're leaving."

*Shanti doesn't move.*

Harveer (raising a cracked and broken voice)

"Shanti I said let's go!"

*Shanti hastily gets off of her bed and rushes past her mother, avoiding eye contact, tripping over random art supplies scattered across the room. She keeps her head down stepping out into the hallway, quickly moving through the debris covered dining/living room where a bear of a man sits on a badly stained couch. He doesn't move, but glares daggers at Shanti as she pushes out the door, in the elevator and out to the parking lot where she gets into her mother's car. Harveer soon follows and begins to drive Shanti to school. The two sit quietly until Shanti breaks the silence.*

Shanti

"We can leave, you know."

*Harveer stays quiet, her eyes fixed to the road.*

Shanti (voice cracking and rising, similar to her mother's)

"We have the car. We can drive away from all of this! Just leave and never come back!"

Harveer (in a hushed and shaky voice)

"Be quiet, Shanti."

Shanti (in an equally shaky, but much louder voice)

"How long are you going to ignore this?!"

*The sky is a melancholy earl grey. A slight rain begins to fall and glisten upon the black pavement. The streetlights, signs and other cars all seem to display a depressing palette of grays, blacks and dark blues. Harveer doesn't speak. Shanti continues.*

Shanti

"Why are you wearing so much concealer, mom?"

*Harveer's lips tighten as if they held the world's greatest secret.*

Shanti

"Please, just let me call the police. I'm begging you."

Harveer

"Hush, child! Grab your things and go to school!"

*The streets have melted into one slim, two way road that leads to a short bridge over a small river, then into a large and empty parking on a slight hill that overlooks Heather Grey High School. The lot is more or less empty. No one is outside of the building. Shanti's mother parks, turns off the car and looks to the passenger seat to face Shanti. Her left eye and cheek are notably lighter than the rest of her face.*

Harveer (eyes, red and puffy but voice stable)

"Everything is okay, love. Please go and do well in school."

Shanti

"Mom, you are NOT okay. The neighbors ask me about you whenever they see me."

Harveer

"Shanti-"

Shanti (tears streaming down her cheeks)

"The Allens that live across from us? Their five year old always says he hears yelling outside of our door. He thinks monsters live with us."

Harveer

"Shanti, do not-"

Shanti (yelling outright)

"What do you think mom? Is there a monster living in our house? Does he beat you whenever you don't come home EXACTLY when he wants you to? Does he leave you gasping for breath after choking you because you don't feel like fucking a fat pig every night?!"

Harveer (angry and loud, yet sad and desperate)

"SHANTI. ENOUGH."

*Her voice shakes the car. A thunder cloud rolls over them overhead.*

Harveer

"Shanti, trust me. Have a good day at school. Please."

*Shanti holds her mother's gaze for a moment, grabs her bag, leaves the car and walks toward the school angrily. She does not say goodbye.*