He Read My Poems

Sally angrily complains to her mother about how her brother read her most private poems
and how humiliated she feels.

SALLY: It’s not fair! It’s not right! He read my poems and they are private. It’s like
reading my diary, Mom. Why did you let him? (beat)

I write a lot of things that I don’t want anyone to see, Mom. Personal things. I
keep my poetry in my private books, which means he not only went into my
room, but he went into my drawer and then opened my book!

So, he did this to spite me and then when I caught him he was laughing and
making fun of what I wrote. I hate him! I’m never going to write a poem ever
again!!! (she storms out)

A Normal Level of Playing Music

NICKI complains to her brother because he is playing his music too loud in his bedroom
while she is trying to do her homework.

NICKI: Dude, lower your music. I said, lower your music! I’m trying to study, and I
can’t think straight, my room is going BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. You’re
making my brain rattle.

What’s wrong with you? No one needs to play their music that loud. You are so
annoying, I swear. Keep it low…lower…lower than that…much, much lower than
that…LOWER. Dude! Way lower than…YEAH, that’s it. BETTER. Keep it—how can
you not hear that?

It’s actually still loud, it just isn’t shaking down the whole house. That’s what you
call a normal level of playing music. If you don’t like it than put on your
headphones that cost a fortune.

Do not turn it any higher than that or else I’m telling Mom when she comes
home. (she exits her brother’s room)
Boost

LANA talks to her friends outside of school about a boy she likes because she caught him
staring at her during class.

LANA: Michael was staring at me in fifth period English. He keeps smiling at me

Mr. Carbanero got angry at him because he helped me climb the rope. You girls
know! He got in trouble for me! That is soooo romantic! Oh my God! When he
first helped me, I froze. I thought I was going to die! I was like, “Thanks”. hahaha.
I couldn’t even speak.

God, he’s soooooo hot. Soooo, soooo hot. (Daydream sigh) I wonder what life
would be like with Mike…lost forever in his sparkling blue eyes. We can have a
big house, with lots of trees and…. wait, I need to get a grip of myself.

(Clears her throat) Sorry.

(Daydream sigh) He’s amazing…

Show and Tell

Annamarie is a 10-year-old girl whose father never made it to show and tell for her class.

ANNAMARIE: Mommy, why didn’t daddy show up to my show and tell today?
(beat)

But I waited in class for him, and he should have called. I told my teacher that he
was a plumber, and he was supposed to come in school today and show all his
tools. My daddy was the only one who wasn’t there. All the other daddies were
there mom. (beat)

It’s not fair. I don’t want to call him up on the phone and I don’t care if he’s sorry.
He said he was coming, and he lied to me. He’s a liar! I’m mad at him and am not
talking to him. He said he was coming, and he lied to me and my friends were
laughing and making fun of me mom. He should have called my teacher Mrs.
Kutcher on the phone and tell her he wasn’t coming.

I made drawings and everything.

In this short adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s children’s classic, Alice meets the White Rabbit
and follows him down the rabbit hole.

ALICE:

Why, how impolite of him. I asked him a civil question, and he pretended not to
hear me. That’s not at all nice. (Calling out.) I say, Mr. White Rabbit, where are you
going? Hmmm. He won’t answer me. And I do so want to know what he is late
for. I wonder if I might follow him. Why not? There’s no rule that I mayn’t go
where I please. I- I will follow him.

Wait for me, Mr. White Rabbit. I’m coming, too! (She falls.) 

How curious. I never realised that rabbit holes were so dark . . . and so long . . .
and so empty. I believe I have been falling for five minutes, and I still can’t see
the bottom! Hmph! After such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling
downstairs. How brave they’ll all think me at home. Why, I wouldn’t say anything
about it even if I fell off the top of the house! I wonder how many miles I’ve fallen
by this time? I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth. I wonder
if I shall fall right through the earth! How funny that would be. Oh, I think I see
the bottom. Yes, I’m sure I see the bottom. I shall hit the bottom, hit it very hard,
and oh, how it will hurt!

WONDERBOOT

A soccer ball sits in the middle of the stage. Sarah enters wearing odd football socks. She
looks determined.

SARAH:
What do you want to be when you grow up ball? I’m not sure either. A Ballerina?
No way! A Firewoman? Maybe! When I grow up I want to be soccer superstar!!!

Sarah cheers and runs a lap around the ball. She stops, stares at the ball.
SARAH:
After 94 minutes of battle, the score is even. A last minute penalty has put all of
the pressure on me. Sarah the Wonderboot Snippet. I’ve been training for this
my whole life. Step one: look at the ball. Check! Step two: place your foot. Check!

A voice from off-stage calls “Sarah!”.

Step three: keep your body straight. Check! The clock is ticking down. The crowd
is going wild…

The off-stage voice calls “Tea’s ready!”

SARAH:
Ohhhh Wonderboot’s belly is starting to grumble. The smell of lasagne almost
too good to refuse. But she won’t let it get in the way of winning the backyard
cup! Look at the ball. Place your foot. Straight body. Step four: angle your body.
Step five: kick!

“Now please!”
SARAH:
Coming! (To the ball.) I’ll have to win the cup tomorrow. Or maybe I’ll be a chef?

The Green Tie-Dye One Piece

Sasha talks about what she’ll be doing this Summer on her family holiday to Monterey.

SASHA:
This summer we’re going to Monterey again. We go every year to get out of the
city and also so Mom has an excuse to drink mojitos at 2pm. Dad says she has a
problem. She says “I’m married to you, so I deserve it”.

I found out that the McKinley’s are going too. They have two kids as well: Jasper
is same age as my brother and Lulu is one year older than me. Lulu has this
really long brown hair, which her Mom does in a fishtail every morning for
school and she got an iPhone 11 Plus for her birthday in January, and she lets
me take photos with her sometimes. I guess she’ll bring the phone with her on
the trip. They get to catch a plane to Monterey which takes two hours, but we’re
driving which will take fifteen.

We basically just sit on the beach or by the pool all day and go out for dinner
together at night. I love the feeling of being in the sun all day and then washing
my hair in a cold shower to cool off.

I look … different now. Mom had to take me shopping for a new swimming
costume at the last minute because I put my old one on and it didn’t fit right
anymore. Maybe it’s because I stopped playing Netball… Anyways, I had a big
fight with Mom at the mall because she wanted to look at everything when I
tried it on, but I just wanted to make the decision by myself and I didn’t want
anyone else to walk past and see. I ended up getting a green tie-dye pattern one
piece with thick straps and a hole cut out the back from Topshop. I wonder if
Lulu will like it? If she says it’s “cool”, that means she doesn’t really like it, but if
she says nothing at all, that means she likes it and is probably jealous. I hope she
doesn’t say anything…

So, yeah, that’s what I’ll be doing this summer.

Little Sailfish

Ruby is a swim champ, but she’s not sure she actually enjoys swimming anymore, or if she
just does it so as not to disappoint her dad.

RUBY:
My dad was an Olympic freestyler. He beat the world record in 2011. He’s the
fastest swimmer I’ve ever seen.

He takes me to swim training every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday

He doesn’t yell or lose his temper like my Dad does sometimes. Which is why I
need to make sure I’m good, so he doesn’t yell. Sometimes my tummy hurts on
Thursdays because I try to beat my one-hundred-meter PB from the week
before so that Dad’s in a good mood all evening.

When he’s really proud of me, he calls me his little Sailfish—cuz they can swim
up to seventy miles an hour.

I always smell of chlorine though, and my hair used to be strawberry blonde but
it’s kind of green now and sometimes I have rings around my eyes for hours
after I get out of the pool from the goggles being so tight.

But, don’t get me wrong: I love swimming … I think.