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Alex, a teenager who experiences life and its surprises... |
INT. alex's home, KITCHEN- DAY Everyone is gathered. On the table sits an apple pie. Muffin is dancing around the table. VICTORIA OK guys, listen up. She claps her hand. VICTORIA (cont'd) Last night our new neighbour just moved in across the street. And so we're going to go and introduce ourselves and welcome her. Alright, let's go! Victoria takes the pie and gives it to Emily to hold. Everyone makes their way out of the house. Ext. mrs. evergreen's porch- day They have all gathered and Victoria knocks. The door opens and MRS. EVERGREEN looks out. VICTORIA Hello! Welcome to our neighbourhood! I'm Victoria Tiko and this is my family. As Victoria introduces them, they each give a wave and smile. VICTORIA (CONT'D) Not forgetting our dog, Muffin. Muffin shyly wags her tail while staying by Alex's side. Mrs. evergreen Thank you for your welcome. I'm Mandy Evergreen. Mrs. Evergreen goes out to shake everyone's hands. She then bends and pats Muffin's head. Victoria pushes Emily forward and Emily holds out the pie to Mrs. Evergreen. VICTORIA We made a pie for you. I'm sure you and your family will love it. Mrs. Evergreen accepts it. MRS. EVERGREEN Oh I live alone. My husband passed on a few years back and my children are overseas. CHARLES We're sorry to hear that. You can come visit us any time you want. VICTORIA While we're at it, come join our Christmas lunch. MRS. EVERGREEN Thank you but I have plans already. Maybe we can have a meal some other time. VICTORIA Oh OK, that's fine. MRS. EVERGREEN Thank you again. VICTORIA No problem, bye! Alex and his family say their goodbyes and leave. Mrs. Evergreen watches them go. INT. ALEX'S HOME- DAY Everyone is helping to clean up the house. Charles is in the garden, Victoria takes care of the rooms, Mrs. Ward is in the kitchen with Muffin asleep by the garden door, Emily is in the washroom and Alex is in the living room. Victoria goes to the top of the stairs. VICTORIA Alex! Alex! INT. LIVING ROOM- day Alex stops vacuuming the rug, turns off the machine and replies. ALEX Yeah, Mom? VICTORIA Could you go to the supermarket and get me some detergent? We've run out. Alex goes upstairs to get money from Victoria then he leaves. Ext. damodar city, new world SUPERMARKET- day Alex is sitting on the bench eating a quiche while watching people go by. Coming from the right is Mark. Alex sees him and waves. Mark sees him and waves back. He then joins him. ALEX Hey, what are you dong here? MARK Just doing some shopping. ALEX Me too. Alex shows him the purchased detergent. MARK So, how's it? ALEX Everything's OK, just doing some cleaning at home...then I got hungry. Alex laughs. ALEX (CONT'D) How about you? MARK Nothing much. Just work and home. ALEX What are you doing for Christmas? MARK No plans. ALEX Your family's not celebrating? MARK Something like that. ALEX My Dad's inviting you to join our Christmas lunch. Interested? MARK Your Dad? ALEX Yeah, long story. So, you coming? MARK Yeah, sounds great. ALEX What's your number? I'll text you the details and the address. MARK 7813120 INT. ALEX'S HOME- DAY Alex enters and goes upstairs. INT. ALEX'S HOME, upstairs- day He gives the detergent to his Mom. ALEX Mom, I invited Mark over for Christmas lunch. VICTORIA Oh, you saw him? ALEX Yeah, small world. VICTORIA Your Father and Emily's gone out to buy a tree. Mrs. Ward and I are going to prepare lunch. You can help out if you like. ALEX OK. I'll be right down after checking something. INT. ALEX'S ROOM- DAY Alex is sitting at the table with his laptop. He checks his Facebook and sees no new messages from Claire. He then shuts down his laptop and leaves. INT. MARK'S HOME- DAY Mark enters with bags of groceries. His Dad is on the couch watching TV. MARK'S DAD What took you so long? MARK I met a friend on the way. MARK'S DAD Get lunch ready, I'm getting hungry. INT. MARK'S HOME, KITCHEN- day Mark puts in three packets of Maggi noodles into the boiling water. Continues to chop up the cabbage then adds it in. Opens up a tin of corned beef and puts it in. He also puts in the noodle flavourings and stirs it. Turns off the stove and carries the pot to the table. He gets two bowls and utensils from the cabinet. Ladles out the food and calls his Dad. They then both sit down to eat. MARK'S DAD What do you want to do for Christmas? Let's do something special. MARK I got plans. Mark's Dad stops eating to look at him. MARK'S DAD Huh? With who? MARK A friend. MARK'S DAD You mean a girlfriend? MARK No. Its a guy and his family. MARK'S DAD With his family? MARK Yeah, its just lunch. MARK'S DAD Maybe we can have a Christmas dinner then. I'll prepare it. MARK You sure you don't want me to help? MARK'S DAD Nah, its OK. I can handle it. Go spend time with your friend. MARK Thanks Dad. Int. alex's home, living room- day Charles and Emily are decorating the tree. Muffin is sniffing at it. INT. ALEX'S HOME, KITCHEN- day Alex, Victoria and Mrs. Ward are busy preparing lunch. Then they gather to eat. VICTORIA So Mark will be joining us for Christmas lunch. CHARLES Good, good. MRS. WARD He's not celebrating with his family? ALEX No. MRS. WARD Aww...how sad. VICTORIA After lunch we're going Christmas shopping. I hope you all still remember who you're buying for from our secret santa game. Victoria looks around the table and is satisfied with the nod of heads. MONTAGE- VARIOUS. A) Ext/int. around town and various shops- day The Tiko family and Mrs. Ward are out and about shopping. They visit Prouds, Jacks, Tappoo City and MHCC. B) INT. MHCC, RESTAURANT 88- NIGHT The family feast on a variety of food. Beef, chicken, lamb, noodles, rice and soup. Smiles and laughter go around the table. C) INT. MHcc, supermarket- night The family are now shopping for groceries for Christmas lunch. Emily sits on the trolley which is being pushed by Alex. D) INT. ALEX'S HOME- NIGHT They then arrive home, tired but happy. Charles, Victoria and Mrs. Ward take the groceries into the kitchen to put away. MONTAGE ENDS. INT. LIving room- night Alex and Emily slouch on the couch watching TV. Alex takes out his phone and checks it. He sees a new Facebook message from Claire. CLAIRE (voice over) Hey, Alex. So what are you reading now? I'm reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Alex types back a reply. ALEX (VOICE OVER) None yet, been a bit busy. Just came back from Christmas shopping. He then sends the message and puts his phone away. EMILY I'm gonna go sleep. Do you want me to take that up for you? Emily points at Alex's shopping bag. ALEX OK, thanks. Alex passes it to her and she goes upstairs. Victoria and Charles enter. VICTORIA Honey, we're off to bed. Goodnight. She rubs his arm. CHARLES Night, kiddo. ALEX Night, guys. They head upstairs. Alex turns off the TV and goes to the kitchen. Int. kitchen- night Mrs. Ward is about to boil a kettle of water. MRS. WARD Alex, do you want some tea? ALEX Sure. Mrs. Ward puts in more water and then boils it. She joins Alex who is sitting at the table. MRS. WARD So your friend will be joining us. ALEX Yeah. MRS. WARD I wonder if his family's alright. Since they're not going to do anything. ALEX Maybe you could ask him. MRS. WARD I hope he doesn't feel awkward around us. He hasn't known you or us long. ALEX Mmm... INT. ALEX'S ROOM- NIGHT Alex is on the laptop. INT. CLAIRE'S ROOM- NIGHT Claire is also on the laptop. INTER-CUT BETWEEN ALEX AND CLAIRE. (voice-overs) CLAIRE Tell me more about yourself. ALEX There's not much to know. CLAIRE Come on, don't be so shy. ALEX I like listening to music. CLAIRE I think everyone does that too haha... ALEX I also like star gazing, walks on the beach and singing. CLAIRE Oh my gosh! You sound like the romantic! ALEX Haha... CLAIRE Seriously, I've never met a guy who likes to do those things. And you know what's the craziest thing? ALEX What? CLAIRE I love to do those types of stuff too! What are the odds?! ALEX No kidding? CLAIRE Yup, too good to be true. You must be my other half ahahaha... ALEX So, are you still studying? Or working? CLAIRE Still in school. I'm doing my PhD in Literature. ALEX Cool, I'm doing a BA in the same subject. CLAIRE Yay, we're Literature buddies! ALEX What is your thesis about? CLAIRE I'm researching William Shakespeare's work, particularly Hamlet. ALEX Oh, Hamlet. I studied that in high school. CLAIRE Its interesting huh? ALEX Yeah, I also like his stuff. Haha another common interest there! CLAIRE Wow! Why didn't I meet you any sooner? =) ALEX Haha...what else do you like? CLAIRE I love cats. I have one mama cat and 5 kittens. Do you want one? ALEX No, its OK. I have a dog and she doesn't like cats. CLAIRE Hey, its nearly 2. Aren't you sleepy yet? ALEX Wow, time is fast. CLAIRE Yeah, I'm yawning my head off. I'm off to bed now. Nice chatting with you, night. ALEX Yeah OK, talk to you later. Goodnight. Alex closes the window and shuts down the laptop. He then goes out to his balcony and lies on the recliner. Looks up at the night sky and enjoys the bright sparkly dots. INT. ALEX'S HOME, living room- DAY Underneath the Christmas tree are various sizes of coloured boxes with ribbons tied on them. Some are wrapped in Christmas wrappings. Muffin sniffs at them. Mrs. Ward enters and shoos Muffin away. MRS. WARD Muffin, you're not supposed to be near the tree nor the presents. Come now! Muffin obediently follows her back into the kitchen. INT. ALEX'S HOME, KITCHEN- DAY Victoria, Emily and Mrs. Ward are preparing cakes, cookies and puddings for Christmas. INT. ALEX'S HOME, LIVING ROOM- DAY Alex and Charles are on the couch watching TV. CHARLES How did you meet Mark? ALEX It was all because of Muffin. Charles laughs. CHARLES He could become your new best friend. Just like Chris. ALEX Yeah, but Chris can't be replaced. CHARLES True, true. ALEX Do you find Ms. Rose weird? CHARLES Weird? Not really...why? ALEX I just get weird vibes from her. CHARLES I'm sure its just nothing. Remember we shouldn't judge people. ALEX I know. CHARLES Alright, I'll go see if the ladies need any help. Charles gets up and goes to the kitchen. INT. ALEX'S ROOM- DAY Alex is on Claire's Facebook profile, looking at her pictures. Emily comes creeping in and she stands behind him. EMILY Ooh, who's that? Alex whips his head around and pushes the screen slightly down, blocking Emily's view. ALEX No one. EMILY Is that your girrrrlfriend? ALEX No, she's not. She's just a friend. EMILY Yeah, a girlfriend. I'm gonna tell Mom. ALEX Oh no you don't! Alex gets up and starts tickling her. Emily bursts out laughing. INT. LIVING ROOM- night Everyone is gathered, seated on the couch. Charles is reading Luke 2 from the Bible. They then sing 'Holy Night'. The clock strikes midnight and they wish each other a Merry Christmas. INT. ALEX'S ROOM- DAY Emily comes running in with Muffin. They both jump onto his bed and try to wake him. EMILY Wake up, sleepy head! Its Christmas! Alex groans and pulls his blanket closer. Emily pulls it off and shakes him. ALEX OK, OK! INT. MARK'S HOME, KITCHEN- DAY Mark is frying some eggs. He then turns off the stove, puts it onto a plate and carries it to the table. Two cups of coffee and a loaf of sliced bread waits there. His Dad enters and they sit down to eat. MARK Merry Christmas, Dad. MARK'S DAD Same to you, Mark. MARK What are you going to do today? MARK'S DAD Watch some TV. Eat a little something for lunch then prepare dinner. MARK Why don't you visit Mom? MARK'S DAD I doubt she'd want to see me. MARK She asked about you when she called. MARK'S DAD And she also asked for a divorce. Mark silently eats. Mark's dad (cont'd) Its just you and me now, Mark. She chose to leave us. MARK (mumbling sarcastically) And I wonder why in the first place. MARK'S DAD What was that? MARK Nothing. INT. ALEX'S HOME, KITCHEN- DAY It is a buzz of activity as everyone helps to prepare for lunch. Victoria and Mrs. Ward are cooking, Charles and Alex set the table, Emily is putting icing and cream on the cake. Muffin excitedly sniffs the aroma filled kitchen. The doorbell rings and Alex goes to get it. ext. ALEX'S porch, day Mark nervously waits, holding a bottle of wine. He fixes his hair as the door swings open. ALEX Mark! You're early! MARK Better than late, right? Mark gives a nervous little laugh. Alex holds the door wide open. ALEX Come in, make yourself at home. Mark enters and Alex closes the door. He leads him into the kitchen. INT. ALEX'S HOME, KITCHEN- DAY They both enter. Alex claps his hands. ALEX Hey guys, our guest has already arrived. Everyone, this is Mark. Alex's family and Mrs. Ward greet Mark and go back to their tasks. Mark puts the wine on the table. CHARLES Alex, you can hang out with Mark. I can handle it here. ALEX OK Dad. INT. ALEX'S HOME, LIVING ROOM- DAY Alex and Mark are sitting down watching TV. Mark looks around, admiring. MARK You have a nice house. Big too. ALEX Thanks. Do you want something to drink? MARK No, I'm fine. Its cool how you guys have a tree with presents and all. Just like in the movies. ALEX Yeah, except for the snow. They both laugh. INT. MARK'S HOME, DAD'S ROOM- day Mark's Dad sits on his bed looking at a framed picture. It is of his family. He touches his wife's face with a sad look. He then hugs the picture, burying his head and cries. INT. ALEX'S HOME, KITCHEN- DAY Everyone is tucking into lunch. They pass the food to each other and Mark looks at them, a hint of sadness in his eyes. VICTORIA So, Mark, your family doesn't celebrate Christmas? MARK We used to...when my parents were still together. VICTORIA Oh I'm so sorry to hear that. MARK Its OK. Mark stares at his plate. Charles takes a sip of the wine and exclaims, trying to lighten up the mood. CHARLES This is really good wine, Mark. Do you usually drink? MARK No, I don't drink. VICTORIA Sorry, but I saw you that day at MHCC with beer. MARK That wasn't for me. I was getting it for my Dad. Charles shoots Victoria a 'I told you so' look. Victoria looks ashamed. CHARLES Tell us more about yourself, Mark. MARK I work part-time at McDonald's. Dad's laid off at the moment. VICTORIA What does he do? MARK He's a road worker with LTA. VICTORIA I see. Is he looking for another job? MARK Not at the moment. But we're doing OK. CHARLES We're glad that Alex has made a new friend. He tells me its through Muffin. MARK Yeah, good thing I was still around for her to find me. Mark laughs. EMILY Alex also has a girlfriend!!! Alex chokes on his food, takes a drink of water. ALEX Emily!!! Everyone turns to look at Alex. VICTORIA Is this true Alex? ALEX No! She's just a friend. EMILY You were looking at her pictures!! CHARLES Emily, stop making fun of your brother. Its OK for him to be...exploring life. ALEX She's not my girlfriend, we're just FRIENDS! VICTORIA Matter of fact, you also seemed to be on your phone a lot too. MRS. WARD I think that's enough now. Its Alex's business and we should respect his privacy. He's not little anymore, he's a young man now. Mrs. Ward smiles at Alex and he gives her a thankful look. VICTORIA Alright. But I'd be really glad if you did. MONTAGE- VARIOUS. INT. MARK'S HOME- day Mark enters expecting his Dad to be preparing dinner. He sees nothing cooking, no sign of his Dad. He goes to his Dad's room. INT. MARK'S HOME, DAD'S ROOM- day He sees his Dad asleep, hugging the picture frame. Beer cans strewn about the bed. Mark goes and takes the picture from him and looks at it. He then looks at his Dad and sighs. INT. ALEX'S HOME, living room- night Everyone happily opens up their presents. Muffin joins in on the happiness. INT. ALEX'S ROOM- NIGHT Alex is on the laptop. INT. CLAIRE'S ROOM- NIGHT Claire is also online. INTER-CUT BETWEEN ALEX AND CLAIRE. (voice-overs) CLAIRE How was your Christmas? ALEX Good, ate a lot. My belly feels as if its about to burst. CLAIRE Hahaha, me too. We went to the Holiday Inn buffet. My plate was filled to the brim! ALEX Did you get any presents? CLAIRE Yeah, a few. Hey, do you wanna meet up sometime? Alex thinks then replies. ALEX OK, when and where? CLAIRE How about next Wednesday, 1pm? At the library? ALEX Sounds good. CLAIRE Great. See you then! Alex stands and goes out to his balcony. He takes in a deep breath of the cool air and smiles. EXT. library- day Alex is sitting on the bench, waiting. Anxiously looks around. Suddenly he hears a voice call out his name. Turning in every direction, searching. He then sees the familiar face of Claire. He stands and waves. Claire arrives and they sit down. CLAIRE It feels kinda weird to see you in person. Claire laughs. ALEX Yeah, a little bit. CLAIRE Do you wanna go get something to drink? ALEX OK, where do you want to go? INT. MHCC, Gloria Jeans- day Alex and Claire are seated opposite one another with their drinks. CLAIRE So how did you get into Literature? ALEX I read a lot when I was younger so it kinda stuck. CLAIRE That's good. Not many people enjoy reading these days. ALEX I know. In primary school I usually stayed in during recess and lunch to read the books in our classroom library. CLAIRE Impressive. I'm sure your teachers were proud. ALEX Yeah, one of them said I was an avid reader. And one time the teacher asked the class who was the best reader in class and they all said my name. CLAIRE Wow. You were famous! They both laugh. CLAIRE(cont'd) So what do you want do when you graduate? Teach? ALEX Its funny how most people think those who study Literature will be teachers. No, I want to do something else. Maybe like an office job or something. CLAIRE OK. I've always wanted to be a teacher. But not in a primary school, its too stressful. Claire laughs. CLAIRE(CONT'D) Yeah, so maybe in a high school or university. ALEX OK. I'm hungry...do you wanna get something to eat? INT. ALEX'S ROOM- NIGHT Alex is lying on his bed listening to music. He then lies on his elbows and picks up his phone. He looks at a picture of Claire and smiles. The End. |