Awkward, much?

The Most Awkward Day EVER
(And other various occurrences)

[The scene is a snowed in school. Three kids, Alex, Sam, Jessica, are sitting around in a circle on the floor with a deck of cards. Various items are thrown in a haphazard pile in the middle of the circle. Other students are spread around the room, sitting at tables or in chairs with open books. A group of heavily made-up girls in the corner are engaged in an animated conversation, punctuated by frequent ‘Ohmygawd!’s. A stern older man with gray hair and a salt-and-pepper beard, Principal Hadley, stands by the large double doors, scrutinizing all the people in the room.]

Alex: God, it’s bad enough that we’re stuck in here, but we’ve got Hadley hanging over our heads too! Doesn’t the guy have anything better to do?

Jessica: Maybe we’re interesting to him? [shocked look] Whoa, that came out sounding really strange…

Sam: Or maybe he’s just bored. Ugh, this sucks. Do you guys know anything we could do?

Jessica: We could always play Egyptian Rat Screw.

Alex: Not again!

Jessica: Why not?

Sam: You always win.

Jessica: That’s why I wanted to play it, idiot.

Sam: Well, I don’t feel like losing again!

Jessica: It’s not my problem that you can’t play cards.

Sam: Look-

[Principal Hadley glares over at the three]

Hadley: Ah-hmm.

Alex: Guys, can you calm down for a sec?

Jessica: Yeah, whatever.

Sam: Fine. It’s just…all we’ve done is play cards. Someone in this school has got to have something else to do.

Jessica: [overly sweet] Well good, Sam, why don’t you go see if you can find something to entertain yourself with, then?

Sam: Yeah, fine. [He gets up quickly and storms over to the other side of the room]

Alex: Would it hurt you to have some tact? Or at least attempt to be nice?

Jessica: Hey, I can deal with Sam in small doses, but we’ve been stuck in here together for six hours. He’s driving me crazy!

Alex: Look, this is no picnic for me either. I told my mom that today was going to be a bad day…

[Jessica sits, fidgeting with her shirtsleeves for a few seconds. All of a sudden, she grabs a notepad covered with doodles and throws it at the wall]

Jessica: I hate this!

[Principal Hadley storms over to loom over the two]

Hadley: And what exactly is going on over here?

Alex: It’s nothing, Mr. Hadley. Really. It’s just…we were wondering…we’ve been in
here for a while…

Hadley: Yes.

Alex: Well…could we maybe…go somewhere else to hang out?

Hadley: [fuming] Absolutely not! The roof is on the verge of collapsing and is much to
dangerous for students to be around. I can barely allow adults in the hallway as it is!

Jessica: That’s bull! I just want to run to my locker and get something!

Hadley: That’s it! Come with me right now!

Jessica: [To Alex] Great. This is just what I need right now.

[They walk towards the other side of the room, sitting down at a table]

Alex: [To himself] Wonderful. Now what am I supposed to do?

[Alex sits and twiddles his thumbs for a few minutes, then picks up Jessica’s discarded notepad. He opens the book, only to find that page after page are covered in doodles of the name ‘Sam’, sometimes with the ‘S’ entwined with a cursive ‘J’. Alex’s eyes widen and he shuts the book quickly, dropping it discreetly onto the floor, opting to draw nervously on the wall instead. This continues for a few minutes, until Sam comes back over, looking at Alex with a strange expression.]

Sam: …What are you doing?

Alex: [startled] Huh?

Sam: You’re drawing on the wall.

[Alex looks back and realizes that he’s covered a good square foot of the wall in little doodles.]

Alex: [laughs nervously]…Yeah, I guess I am.

Sam: [wondering look] OK… [looking around and changing the subject] Hey, where’d Jessica go?

Alex: Uh…over there. [Gestures to Hadley and Jessica in the corner]

Sam: [smirks] So she finally got it, huh? Man, she was asking for it.

Alex: Yeah, I guess.

Sam: What do you mean, “I guess”?

Alex: I don’t know.

[Alex looks at his feet and Sam eyes him suspiciously. He opens his mouth to say something, but at that moment, a paper airplane smacks into the back of his head. When Sam turns to yell at the guilty freshman who runs over to retrieve his plane, Alex slips away towards the girls in the corner. He doesn’t seem to notice their blatant disgust.

Sam turns back around, his mouth open again to speak, but Alex has already disappeared. Shrugging his shoulders, he sits down and after a few moments, begins to peer at the drawings on the wall. Principal Hadley walks up slowly with Jessica in tow.]

Hadley: Now, Jessica, I want you to stay here and calm down. I’m sure that it won’t be any time at all before the snow plows arrive and we’re out of this whole mess.

[Sam turns towards Principal Hadley with a smirk]

Sam: Hey, Hadley. [The principal stiffens at Sam’s informality] There any chance we might miss school? Because of the roof and all? [sarcastic] I’m sure that it wouldn’t be safe for us, would it?

[Hadley grits his teeth and walks away. Sam turns his attention to Jessica, who is staring at her notepad on the floor next to Sam. Sam sees what she’s looking at. He picks it up and holds it out to her. She snatches it out of his hand.]

Jessica: [accusing] Did you read it?

Sam: [surprised] What? No.

Jessica: Really?

Sam: Yeah! Why would I want to read it anyways? It’s probably nothing interesting.

Jessica: So now I’m not interesting?

Sam: I never said that! Why are you acting like this?

Jessica: Never mind. [She sits on the floor, picks up the deck of cards and begins shuffling furiously] Let’s play something.

Sam: Just play Solitare. I’m sick of those things. [remembering] Hey, do you know where Alex went? He just disappeared all of a sudden.

Jessica: [peering around] Is that him over there by Amber’s group?

[The two look closer and see Alex trying to blend in with the gaggle of girls. When she meets his eyes, Jessica raises one eyebrow and Alex shuffles back over, embarrassed]

Alex: Hey.

Jessica: Why were you over there?

Alex: Oh, no reason…they’ve always seemed nice… [Sam looks at him disbelievingly] Yeah, okay, that’s a lie. I guess I just wanted to…stretch my legs?

Sam: [still disbelieving] Yeah, OK. Sure.

Alex: [evasive] Look, can we just play cards or something? I don’t want to-

[Suddenly, a rumbling comes from outside. A teacher rushes in and tells something to Principal Hadley, who turns to the students in the room]

Hadley: Students! The snow plows are finally here, and they should have us out of here in about a half an hour. I would also like to inform you that there will be no school for the remainder of the week, due to the instability of the school’s roof.

[The room erupts in cheers as the students get up and begin to gather their things. Jessica and Alex stay on the floor, Jessica clutching her notepad and Alex quickly drumming his fingers on the floor. Sam jumps to his feet, whooping and makes a mad dash for the door along with the other students.]