Contentless Scene #1
1. Who am I?
In this scene, I am stressed out and annoyed. I am trying to get a very large assignment done while person A is constantly interrupting my studying. I perceive myself as popular and well-liked and someone who should not be seen associating themselves with the wrong people. I am currently a sophomore in high school. For most of my life, my family was part of the middle class. However, at the beginning of freshman year, a new business park opened across the street from my parent's cafe. This meant a ton of more people came to their cafe for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or even a quick coffee break. This jolted us to the upper middle class causing us to move into a bigger house. Before this I had friends, but I was never part of the infamous “social butterfly” group who had parties and always looked like they were having fun. After the purchase of my new house, however, I was able to host these parties, resulting in my acceptance into the party group, and the new friends with whom I currently hang out.
2. What are my circumstances?
At this point in time, it is 12:15 p.m. On Thursday, January 17, 2012.
Currently, I am in an indoor study hall at my high school. Thus, I am in a very public place, yet also a very quiet, cold, and unfriendly one. I am in a situation where people are constantly on edge and easily provoked as they are buried in the stress of trying to get work done with a ton of other people around. In this situation, it is not difficult to see everything going on. You can take a quick glance around the room and know what everybody is doing.
Immediately before this scene I was in history class. I was just assigned a very important essay due in two days, thus I made my way to study hall to get started on my textbook reading.
3.Who am I talking to? (The Target)
Person A and I used to be in the same friend group, however once I started to hang out with other people, I started to drift away from her and the other people in that group. This was partly because Person A started to get too clingy, and partly because I did not want to be seen hanging out with people I was not sure my new friend group would approve of. I would prefer not to have any interaction with Person A. For example, the night before this scene takes place, Person A asked me to go to a party with her that we were both invited to. She said she wasn't sure if she wanted to go, but she would if I did. I wanted to go to the party, but not with her. Thus, I told her I was not going even though I did, in fact, attend. I was sure that Person A would not see me there, since she had basically just told me that she wasn't going to go if I didn't.
4. What do I want?
The literal activity of the scene is: Person A (A) and Person B (B) exchange a greeting. A asks B how everything is and B gives a sort of dismissive answer. A asks B if she knows what time it is and B says no. A thought that B had a watch, but B says she doesn't have it on her. A then says “Well?” and B is confused by this question so she asks, “Well, what?” A asks B what she did last night and B asks A what she means. A repeats her question and B answers, “Nothing.” A asks B, “Nothing?” Annoyed by this, B retorts, “I said nothing!” A says she's sorry she asked and B says that it's all right.
In this scene, my character wants to get Person A to stop bothering her and wants to finish her work as quickly as possible so she can leave the room.
My essential action is to get an intrusive person to stop badgering me.
The cap to my action is that Person A stops talking to me.
Currently, what is happening in my life that is like my character's action is that whenever I am talking to certain boy in our grade, a certain girl in our grade constantly asks me if I like him. No matter what I say, she keeps bringing it up, and always bothers me about it. On a personal level, this action means getting this girl in my grade to just leave me alone and accept what I am saying to her.
5. What are the stakes?
The stakes in this scene are that if I do not get Person A to stop talking to me, every time I see her she will keep trying to intrude on my personal life. Also, I might lose my friend group if they see her talking to me now or at another point in time.
6. What is the urgency?
I must do my action NOW for two reasons. One, I have limited time to get my essay done after school because of soccer practice, thus I must get as much done as I can today, which I cannot do if Person A is constantly asking my questions. Also, I am not sure if one of my friends is in the room who might see me having a conversation with Person A, therefore I must stop the conversation as soon as possible.