Characters
Mrs. Matthews : teacher
Allison : the prima donna
Annabelle : the troublemaker
Florence : the athlete
Elizabeth : the teacher’s pet
Sophie : the tough girl
Scene : While gossiping before school, some students
realize that they have forgotten to study for a Math test that
will take place during 1st period. To get out of this fix, they
force the teacher’s
pet to participate in their system of codes so that they can communicate
the correct answers to each other.
Scenery : A classroom, teacher’s desk, several
student desks.
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************************************************************************
Allison comes in first. She heads to her desk, digs in her purse
and takes out a brush. She is fixing her hair when Florence comes
in all out of breath.
Allison : Wow, did you run to school ?
Florence : Yeah, I am training for the school olympics.
Allison : You already have a ton of trophies in your room.
Florence : It’s not the trophies that count,
but performance. I always try to be the best.
Allison : I’ve never won ANY medals.
Florence : With those high heels you wear, you could try the high-jump.
You might just win.
Allison : Ha ! Ha !
Annabelle and Sophie walk into the classroom.
Annabelle puts something on the teacher’s chair.
Sophie : Hey guys !
Florence and Allison : Hey !
Sophie sits down at her desk.
Allison : You know we’re not allowed to sit
on our desks.
Sophie : I can do whatever I want, whenever I want.
Florence : If Mrs. Matthews sees you, she won’t
be happy.
Sophie : I’m not afraid of the teacher.
Annabelle : Me either, she doesn’t scare me. The proof – I
just put a thumbtack on her chair.
Allison : You better not get yourself into trouble.
Annabelle : No problem. It’s more like the teacher’s
bum that is going to be in trouble!
Everyone laughs. Elizabeth comes in.
Elizabeth : Why are you all laughing? Are you making fun of me again.
Sophie : We aren’t making fun of you, but that’s
a great idea.
Annabelle humming : Elizabeth has glasses and she always passes.
Elizabeth raising her voice : Stop it !
Sophie : Oh ! The teacher’s pet is not happy. Are you going
to complain to your rich Daddy? Then he’ll come to school and
watch out for you.
Elizabeth : I come to school all by myself now.
Florence : It’s true. She comes on her brand
new 18-speed bike that Daddy bought for her. I would love to have
a bike like that.
Sophie : An 18-speed bike? Could I try it out?
Elizabeth : My Dad won’t let me.
Florence : You are so boring!
Elizabeth : YOU are way too obnoxious.
Allison who was looking at her planner : Oh, no ! We have a Math
test this morning!
Florence, Sophie and Annabelle : WHAT ?
Allison : Just look in your planners, it’s
right there.
Florence : Oh no ! I forgot to study. I played basketball last night.
Annabelle : Sophie and I went roller-blading.
Allison : I HAD to watch my favorite TV show.
Elizabeth : I’m not surprised. You all never
look in your planners. I spent the entire evening studying.
Sophie : We KNOW, you always get a 100.
Elizabeth : Even if I got zeros on the rest of the
tests, I’d
STILL pass.
Sophie : If I get another zero, I’m sure to
fail.
Florence : We have to do something.
Sophie : You’re right, but what ?
Florence : I know, we’ll copy off of Elizabeth
.
Elizabeth : Noooo way!
Sophie : Oh, you better help us. Is that clear ?
Elizabeth doesn’t say anything.
Sophie : Do you understand ?
Elizabeth reluctantly : Yes !
Annabelle : I have an idea. Let’s make up a code. Since this
is a multiple choice test, it will be very easy. When the answer
is "A", Elizabeth will scratch her head like this.
Annabelle scratches her head.
Annabelle : For "B", you could scratch
your nose.
Allison : That’s a great idea !
Sophie : For "C", she could tap her foot.
Florence : Umm no, that will be too obvious.
Annabelle : For "C", she’ll yawn, for "D",
she’ll pull on her ear and for "E", she is going
to wiggle her nose – like this.
Allison : Wait, can you repeat all that?
Florence : It’s easy, "A", scratch head, "B",
scratch nose, "C", yawn, "D", pull ear and "E",
wiggle nose.
Allison : I am going to write them all on my desk
so I don’t
forget.
Annabelle : Me, too.
Allison, Florence and Annabelle write on their desks.
Sophie to Elizabeth : Are we clear !?
Elizabeth : Yes, yes.
Florence : Look out – the teacher’s
coming.
Mrs. Matthews comes in. The kids are very quiet.
Mrs. Matthews: Hello kids ! You are too quiet. That worries me a
little.
Elizabeth gets up and brings an apple to Mrs. Matthews.
Mrs. Matthews: Thank you, young lady. You are so nice and thoughtful.
If only all of the students were more like you.
When Elizabeth turns to go back to her desk, the rest of the kids
look at her with contempt.
Annabelle whispers to Elizabeth : Suck-up.
Elizabeth makes a face at Annabelle.
Mrs. Matthews: Very well, you must know there will
be a Math test this morning. But before that, I would like to finish
yesterday’s
lesson on the verbs from the second group. We were on the verb "to
hate". Who can conjugate it for me in the present tense?
No one answers.
Mrs. Matthews: Allison !
Allison : Me ?
Mrs. Matthews: Yes.
Allison stands up.
Allison : I hate you, you hate me, we all hate…Elizabeth
.
Elizabeth : HEEEEEEEY!
Mrs. Matthews: That’s not it. Elizabeth !
Elizabeth : It would be too easy to conjugate the verb in the present
tense. I am going to conjugate it in the subjunctive pluperfect :
that I had hated, that you had hated, that he or she had hated, that
we had hated, that you had hated plural, that they had hated.
Mrs. Matthews starts to clap.
Mrs. Matthews: Bravo ! That’s wonderful.
Annabelle : We HATE conjugating, Ma’am.
Mrs. Matthews: Annabelle , I can do without your
comments. You are going to really hate them now because you are
going to write out all the possible conjugations for the verb "to love" for
me tomorrow.
Annabelle : Noooooooooooooo !
Mrs. Matthews: No whining.
Mrs. Matthews goes toward her desk to sit down
on her chair. The students watch her closely. When her backside
touches the chair , she jumps up and cries out "Ouch".
The students burst into laughter, but the teacher gets up and
is very angry.
Mrs. Matthews: If I catch the one who did that.
I am going to send you to the office and you’ll be suspended
for the entire week.
Florence : Perhaps one of your thumbtacks fell off your desk onto
your chair.
Mrs. Matthews: It seems more like a bad joke to me.
Elizabeth : In any case, it wasn’t me.
Mrs. Matthews: I know, my dear!
Mrs. Matthews turns around to pick up the tests.
Mrs. Matthews: We are going to start the test right now. And since
you have put me in a bad mood, I am warning you that I am going to
grade them very harshly. Here, Elizabeth , hand these out please.
Elizabeth hands out the papers.
Mrs. Matthews: You have ten minutes and I don’t
want to hear a word.
Mrs. Matthews picks up a book and starts reading.
The students all have their eyes on Elizabeth . She looks at
her paper and then pulls on her ear. Everyone writes down the
answer. They look at her again and she scratches her nose. Annabelle
, Allison and Florence write down the answer, but Sophie didn’t
see which answer to put down.
Sophie whispering to Annabelle : What was that one ?
Annabelle scratches her nose in an exaggerated way.
Sophie : Oh OK !
Mrs. Matthews: I said quiet !
The kids all look at Elizabeth again. She yawns and then everyone
writes down that answer. But, Elizabeth signals to them that, no,
she was REALLY yawning Now she wiggles her nose. Sophie, Annabelle
et Florence wiggle their noses. Allison is completely lost.
Allison whispering to Florence : Was that for the 3rd or the 4th
question ?
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