Posted: May 14th 2006, 4:45 pm
Here's a little scene, maybe for episode 26... I've had the idea or a disaster drill plot for a long time, but just wrote this part this morning. There's going to be more about what the other characters are doing during this... (Oh, I haven't decided what class this is yet, so I don't know if the teacher is male or female yet, which is why the blank name and dual gender pronouns are there.)
[Angela is in class, they are taking notes from the overhead projector, the teacher is reading a newspaper while students copy down the information from the screen. The school’s alarm begins to ring. Some of the rowdier kids begin to clap, the teacher rolls his/her eyes, folds the newspaper and turns off the overhead. Other students groan, Angela looks around the room.]
Teacher: Okay people, it’s a drill, under the desks.
Student 1: But _____ how do you know it’s a drill? What if it’s a fire? We’ll all be burned alive because you kept us trapped under our desks.
Teacher: Nice try Anderson, now grab some wood.
Student 2: This sucks.
Student 3: What happens if we didn’t finish the notes?
Teacher: Duck and cover people. [Angela and her classmates crouch under their desks. Some make a game of it and have a good time with it, most do it grudgingly.]
AVO: Disaster drills are really scary. [She looks around the room a her classmates under desks.] Seeing people, who ordinarily … [she looks at jocks, burn-outs, prepsters, etc.] try to jam themselves under these tiny desks, is truly, horrifying. It isn’t the potential for an actual disaster that unnerves you, it’s seeing your classmates in these vulnerable and awkward positions. It’s humiliating, and unsettling. [Looking around the room again] I think we’d all rather take our chances during a real emergency than to have to suffer through these drills. [She sees a larger girl, who’s skirt, while ducking, caught on something, revealing her faded flower printed underwear to the bunch of snickering guys behind her.] I’ll bet being a victim of falling ceiling tiles is a lot less painful than this. [She sees kids throwing bits of paper at another kid] And really, what’s a little wooden desk going to do? [Looking at her teacher who is sitting on his/her desk, surveying the room.] This must be how teachers entertain themselves. [The alarm changes]
Teacher: Okay, that’s the all clear. Now listen, we’re going to evacuate to the field. I want to see every single one of you out there. [Students start walking out the door as he/she continues talking] Stay together. If you’re not out their with our class, you’re looking at some serious consequences. We’re on the far side of the field, to the left of the benches. Stay together!
[As Angela walks down the hall with her class to evacuate, she sees Jordan and his buddies walking the other way, jostling each other as they do. Jordan and Angela make eye contact, but he continues with his friends, and she stays with the group like she’s supposed to. Moving down the hall, the rowdy boys from her class start teasing the girl in the skirt, calling her “Flowers” – she doesn’t get it, but it makes her uncomfortable anyway. Most students are walking in groups with their friends, others are clearly alone, while others are conspicuously try to latch on to other groups.]
AVO: It’s shocking. You’d think being forced to publicly cower under a piece of furniture would, I don’t know, temporarily affect people. [Looking around] But everything’s exactly the same, only worse, because outside of the classroom everything changes. [Their class is walking down the central hallway to the main exit] It’s really awful when you’re in class, but like, not in a classroom, it just magnifies everything.
* * * * *
[During the disaster drill Angela is out on the grass with her class. The classes circle around the football field, students milling around, teachers ignoring their students, using the time to catch up and to gossip amongst themselves. Most students are just sitting or standing around. They form small groups, mostly they’re talking, some are reading or listening to head phones, a few groups are playing cards, and there’s a group of boys clowning around doing handstands and such. Angela’s squatting close to the ground, but not sitting, tucking her hair behind her ears.]
AVO: It seems like all of life is one big disaster drill. Everyone always trying to warn off what might happen, what could go wrong to mess up that perfect life we’re all supposed to want. But it seems like everything that’s ever actually gone wrong in my life, wasn’t something you could ever prepare for. And everybody’s always survived. And really, what kind of life is that to just be waiting, expecting something bad to happen? Is there a difference between being prepared, and being fixated? Being paranoid? And how useful is this anyway? Maybe it just makes us feel safer, more in control of the uncontrollable.
[We follow her gaze across the field to the bleachers and sees three kids who have slipped under there and who are having good time with each other (it reminds her and the audience of the old days of Rickie Rayanne and herself). As she is watching this, the assistant principal, who is making the rounds, comes over to her carrying a clipboard.]
AP: Ms. Chase? [Angela looks up in the sun to see him, she squints, but doesn’t move or say anything] You haven’t seen Mr. Catalano have you? [Angela makes a face; clearly she had no idea that the school’s administration had any idea that she even knew Jordan]
A: No…
AP: What would you say are the chances he’s still on campus?
A: I don’t know [He rolls his tongue in his mouth, swallows, looks at her] Well, glad to see you’re still here. [Then he walks away to continue down the lines of classes.]
[Angela is in class, they are taking notes from the overhead projector, the teacher is reading a newspaper while students copy down the information from the screen. The school’s alarm begins to ring. Some of the rowdier kids begin to clap, the teacher rolls his/her eyes, folds the newspaper and turns off the overhead. Other students groan, Angela looks around the room.]
Teacher: Okay people, it’s a drill, under the desks.
Student 1: But _____ how do you know it’s a drill? What if it’s a fire? We’ll all be burned alive because you kept us trapped under our desks.
Teacher: Nice try Anderson, now grab some wood.
Student 2: This sucks.
Student 3: What happens if we didn’t finish the notes?
Teacher: Duck and cover people. [Angela and her classmates crouch under their desks. Some make a game of it and have a good time with it, most do it grudgingly.]
AVO: Disaster drills are really scary. [She looks around the room a her classmates under desks.] Seeing people, who ordinarily … [she looks at jocks, burn-outs, prepsters, etc.] try to jam themselves under these tiny desks, is truly, horrifying. It isn’t the potential for an actual disaster that unnerves you, it’s seeing your classmates in these vulnerable and awkward positions. It’s humiliating, and unsettling. [Looking around the room again] I think we’d all rather take our chances during a real emergency than to have to suffer through these drills. [She sees a larger girl, who’s skirt, while ducking, caught on something, revealing her faded flower printed underwear to the bunch of snickering guys behind her.] I’ll bet being a victim of falling ceiling tiles is a lot less painful than this. [She sees kids throwing bits of paper at another kid] And really, what’s a little wooden desk going to do? [Looking at her teacher who is sitting on his/her desk, surveying the room.] This must be how teachers entertain themselves. [The alarm changes]
Teacher: Okay, that’s the all clear. Now listen, we’re going to evacuate to the field. I want to see every single one of you out there. [Students start walking out the door as he/she continues talking] Stay together. If you’re not out their with our class, you’re looking at some serious consequences. We’re on the far side of the field, to the left of the benches. Stay together!
[As Angela walks down the hall with her class to evacuate, she sees Jordan and his buddies walking the other way, jostling each other as they do. Jordan and Angela make eye contact, but he continues with his friends, and she stays with the group like she’s supposed to. Moving down the hall, the rowdy boys from her class start teasing the girl in the skirt, calling her “Flowers” – she doesn’t get it, but it makes her uncomfortable anyway. Most students are walking in groups with their friends, others are clearly alone, while others are conspicuously try to latch on to other groups.]
AVO: It’s shocking. You’d think being forced to publicly cower under a piece of furniture would, I don’t know, temporarily affect people. [Looking around] But everything’s exactly the same, only worse, because outside of the classroom everything changes. [Their class is walking down the central hallway to the main exit] It’s really awful when you’re in class, but like, not in a classroom, it just magnifies everything.
* * * * *
[During the disaster drill Angela is out on the grass with her class. The classes circle around the football field, students milling around, teachers ignoring their students, using the time to catch up and to gossip amongst themselves. Most students are just sitting or standing around. They form small groups, mostly they’re talking, some are reading or listening to head phones, a few groups are playing cards, and there’s a group of boys clowning around doing handstands and such. Angela’s squatting close to the ground, but not sitting, tucking her hair behind her ears.]
AVO: It seems like all of life is one big disaster drill. Everyone always trying to warn off what might happen, what could go wrong to mess up that perfect life we’re all supposed to want. But it seems like everything that’s ever actually gone wrong in my life, wasn’t something you could ever prepare for. And everybody’s always survived. And really, what kind of life is that to just be waiting, expecting something bad to happen? Is there a difference between being prepared, and being fixated? Being paranoid? And how useful is this anyway? Maybe it just makes us feel safer, more in control of the uncontrollable.
[We follow her gaze across the field to the bleachers and sees three kids who have slipped under there and who are having good time with each other (it reminds her and the audience of the old days of Rickie Rayanne and herself). As she is watching this, the assistant principal, who is making the rounds, comes over to her carrying a clipboard.]
AP: Ms. Chase? [Angela looks up in the sun to see him, she squints, but doesn’t move or say anything] You haven’t seen Mr. Catalano have you? [Angela makes a face; clearly she had no idea that the school’s administration had any idea that she even knew Jordan]
A: No…
AP: What would you say are the chances he’s still on campus?
A: I don’t know [He rolls his tongue in his mouth, swallows, looks at her] Well, glad to see you’re still here. [Then he walks away to continue down the lines of classes.]