Silent Bullying

Alice tries to humiliate the isolated wolf of her school, and in doing so, hopes to enter the popular kids circle.

INT. FASHION DEPARTMENT CLASSROOM - MORNING

ALICE sits behind her desk, sketching a fashion dress. She wildly crosses out the drawing, and puts the pencil down. Her gaze shifts from the paper to the classroom. She notices a group of classmates together, talking. She glances at her watch. 12:30pm. She abruptly stands up from her seat and bends down to grab her HIGH heels. She struggles a bit to put them on. She successfully puts them on, then ticks the floor with her foot, making sure they sit tightly enough. She stands up, adjust her hair, and hastes to the group of classmates talking, while walking as ladylike as she can.

CLASSMATE 1

For me, a ham sandwich.

CLASSMATE 2

I'll have the... Fruit Deluxe. Gotta watch my diet.

CLASSMATE 1

Diet? Dude, just say you can't afford it. Don't worry, I'll buy two sandwiches.

ALICE

Hey, can I join you guys for lunch, too?

CLASSMATE 1

Alice! Hm. Sure, why not.

ALICE

Great. I'll go get my phone guys.

She walks back to her desk. Phone vibrates. Alice picks up her phone. She opens the new text message and reads it. Her face lights up.

CLASSMATE 2 (O.S.)

You coming, Alice?

 

ALICE

Hm, sorry guys. Something just came up. I'll catch up later.

She looks for a blank paper. She grabs a pen and starts vividly jotting down some words while scrolling through her phone.

EXT. School terrace - Afternoon

Alice frantically walks past a small crowd of students in her high heels. She sees her classmates in the distance eating lunch. She looks around and turns to the left. She starts walking down a road, that leads away from the crowd of students. She looks at the note in her left hand, as she walks. Her phone is in her right hand.

ALICE

No one has any good picture of his face... That's probably, the best way to clear this.

She puts the notes into her pocket.

ALICE

All I need to do now is find a way to put this tracker on him.

She crosses over to the right. She can see the Illustration department tower building already. She suddenly bumps her head into someone. She staggers.

ALICE

Aauw!

She looks up and stiffens for a moment. She sees the name tag, FAITH.

ALICE

(thinks)

So this is the isolated wolf of our school. Here's my chance.

Faith bends down, picks up Alice's phone and reaches it out to her to hand it over. She waits and does nothing.

faith

Hmm...

 

She grabs the phone. She stands up straight, all exaggerated. Alice walks past him but stumbles. She holds unto the hem of his jacket, while she places a chip on it. Alice recovers her balance and quickly heads off. After a while, she stops and turns back. She barely sees him walk away, into the woods. After which, she checks her phone. She sees a GPS point blinking.

ALICE

(in a satisfied tone)

Yes, it's working.

She looks up and looks around cautiously from the corner of her eyes, as she holds the phone close to her. She sees no one. She then puts her hands on her cheek and smiles.

ALICE

Good job, face.

She regains her composure, puts her phone in her pocket and stares for a while at the tree tops.

ALICE

Time for phase 2.

 

EXT. school garden - later that afternoon

Alice looks up a tree. With her high heels hidden behind another tree, she effortlessly climbs the tree barefooted. She settles on a branch, after which she uses her phone to take a picture of the ground. She brings out a jelly cupcake. Holding the cupcake loosely, she waves her hand back and forth from different places on the tree branch. She looks at her phone. The point on the screen is closing in. She then settles down.

ALICE

Perfect.

The wind blows softly, the leaves begin to dance in the wind. Her hair flatters a bit. She closes her eyes.

EXT. HOMETOWN ALICE, ROOFTOP TREE CABIN - FLASHBACK

A crow flies through the sky, circling around. The young Alice (eight years old) waves at the crow.

ALICE

(shouts)

Tinky!

She stops waving. She looks in the distance and sees the ocean, with a fishery boat on it.

EXT. SCHOOL GARDEN �" BACK TO PRESENT

 

She hears a branch break. She opens her eyes and looks down. Out of the bushes, Faith walks in. He sits down underneath the tree where Alice is and reads.

ALICE

This is it.

Her phone is in her right her and the jelly cupcake in her left. She puts on the camera function of her phone, ready to snap. She places the jelly cupcake perfectly above Faith's head, but a pigeon suddenly flies past her face. She immediately lets go of the jelly cupcake. It falls on the surprised face of Faith. She flails with her hands as she loses her balance.

ALICE

(shouts as she is falling)

Aah!

Faith looks up and sees her falling. He stretches his hands and catches her. She opens her eyes and sees the splattered jelly cupcake on his head. She notices her phone. Its still in her hand. She quickly grabs it and takes a photo of his face.

FAITH

(as he puts her down)

Are you OK, Alice?

Alice jumps back. He looks at her. Alice's glace shifts from Faith to her surroundings, then back to Faith. Faith points to her name tag, to lighten the confused face of Alice. She sees her name tag and uses her left hand to cover it. He wipes the jelly cupcake off his face. His hair sticks from the jelly to the sides of his face. She can see his face clearly now.

FAITH

You took a picture of my face, just now. ...Can I ask why?

Alice draws her phone to her chest, in a protective manner. She takes a step back.

FAITH

OK, Wait. Stop. I won't hurt you. I have something that's yours.

Alice drops her shoulder down and relaxes a bit. He takes the tracker from his jacket and covers it in his hand. He approaches her and shows her the tracker. She holds the phone tightly. He withdraws his hand. He takes out a drawing from his pocket and gives it to her. Alice sees a drawing of her.

FAITH

You are interesting. Can I be your friend?

She is perplexed. Faith is now close to her, close enough for her to see his eyes clearly. She looks into his eyes and stares into a dark empty space.

He backs away from her. He holds the tracker up high and looks through his fingertips at the sky. A pigeon flies by.

ALICE

(whisper)

You are the same.

His gaze shifts back to Alice. She walks to the nearby tree and grabs her high heels. She places the shoes on the ground between them. She leans against the tree.

ALICE

We are so alike.

He walks to the opposite side of the tree and leans against it. She looks at her phone and stares at the picture. She deletes it. She replies the ELITE CLUB.

ALICE

 (text message)

I failed to humiliate him. Guess I won't be joining you. Alice

She puts the phone in her pocket.

ALICE

(thinks)

Silence does hurt just as much, huh?

She stands straight and walks up to him.

ALICE

Let's start over. Hi, I'm Alice. I'm not your friend (yet), but if you want to, we can talk from time to time.

FAITH

(with a faint smile)

Hi, I'm Faith. I'd love that, Alice. Thank you.

They shake hands.

ALICE

I'm sorry for the jelly, by the way.

THE END.

 

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think of:
The plot: does it have tension, build up? do you understand everything? is the story clear? Is the ending too obvious?
Dialogue: too much, too little? does it flow well? is it natural?
Characters: Is Alice still too flat? Do you connect with her? Is her desire/goal clear? Is Faith too flat? Are their reactions anywhere too unnatural?
Setting: Does the setting go well with the story?
Theme: what do you think the theme is? The take home message? The heart of the story?
Genre: what would you say is the genre?