The Script [JADE WEST]

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Jade West was hunched over her laptop in the library, her fingers over the keyboard, alas she had written nothing for the past twenty or so minutes. 

It had all begun the day before when Erwin Sikowitz, her Acting teacher, had given her a special assignment. Since she was one of his best students and had written many successful plays, he figured it would be best if he trusted her with this school year's play that was going to be shown before the Christmas break.

And now Jade was struggling. What would she write about? Comedy? She never watched those, let alone wrote them. Tragicomedy? Could she pull that off?

She couldn't simply write about what interested only her, considering the fact that she had been the chosen one to write the script. Very few people were interested in horror movies. She had to go for a story that would touch the hearts of her classmates and her teachers. 

Jade had been so absorbed by the script she had to write that she had not even noticed Beck Oliver, her boyfriend, taking the seat next to hers. He had been looking for her for the past twenty minutes or so. Never in a million years, he would have thought of checking the library. But then he had remembered the secret entrance to it from the janitor's closet and had decided to try his luck. And there she was.

"Hey," he whispered in her ear, startling her.

She sharply turned her head to face him, "Beck!", she gritted through her teeth. Couldn't he see how busy she was? Of course, he wouldn't understand. Nobody could. They hadn't been given the task to practically represent the prestigious school.

"I brought you coffee," he passed her the paper coffee cup he had brought, knowing it would soothe her. She would always jokingly say that if she could get married, she would do it to coffee. Only Beck knew why. He had been the only one to see her pulling all-nighters to practice songs and to study for tests.

And while coffee was Jade's life saviour, today she was simply not in the mood for it. She had bigger things to fret about. She shook her head and focused her gaze on the empty Word document in front of her, "I have to work on the script," she sighed.

No matter how hard she had tried to think of an original idea, nothing would pop in her mind. Everything seemed not good enough. And now that she was a Senior, she had to write a play that would stay in the history of Hollywood Arts High School.

She pushed her laptop away and rest her head on the desk. She couldn't give up, that was for sure. Not only because Sikowitz relied on "one of his best students", as he had said, but also because she could prove herself in front of her classmates and her family. Her father had seen one of her plays back in Sophomore year, but she had matured since then and so had her writing. She wanted him to see that and to finally approve of her dreams - dreams that did not matter in his eyes.

If she wrote and produced a lousy play, she could wave goodbye to a scholarship for Juilliard. Knowing her parents, they would refuse to have to do anything with their child's future education. They would throw her out of their house like she was a dirty kitten, deeming her "old enough to care for herself". As if she hadn't been doing it for years.

Deep inside, there was this part of her, the child inside of her who craved for approval and not only that. She wanted to make her family proud. She knew her little brother loved her, but he was so young, he was only in elementary school. He had a whole life in front of him. He failed to quite comprehend the situation.

Then there were her so-called friends, who had their own lives and happier families. Despite the fact that together they had had many adventures, she didn't feel the need to bother anybody about her personal feelings. Not even Beck, who knew only half of the truth. And she wanted it to stay that way.

"My RV after school?", suggested Beck, wanting to take her mind off the tough assignment.

She agreed and went back to thinking about her script.

Throughout the rest of the day, all Jade could focus on was the script. She had been too preoccupied to take notes - she would have to rely on Beck's messy ones. And she had a big test for The History of Music class that she had to ace. Senior year was the toughest one so far - if she didn't keep her grades perfect, she would have to watch as her friends succeeded in life. And she couldn't let Tori Vega become more prosperous than her. She knew she would rather die than let this happen.

She wanted to hide away in the janitor's closet and to cut up the trash can with the sharpest scissors that she owned - from her favourite movie. But she wasn't her 15-year-old self anymore. She had to suck it up and stay in class, pay attention and take notes even if she needed a break to work on other projects.