5th Draft Of Script

1. INT. COSTA COFFEE – AFTERNOON. BLACKBURN, ENGLAND.

GRACE: A 17 year old college student who is a victim of bullying. She has long, wavy hazelnut brown hair and pale skin. She is of an average build and wears thick rimmed black glasses. She is sat across from her best friend JAMES who is also 17 and attends the same college.

GRACE:

She’s awesome.

GRACE places her phone on the table and reluctantly smiles at JAMES.

A look of frustration stretches along JAMES’ face.

JAMES:

You talking to her again?

You have absolutely no idea

who she is, that’s if she even   

is a she.

GRACE:

Why do you get so angry about

this? She’s the only person who            understands me. Listens to me.

JAMES:

(sighs, sarcastically.)

So I don’t listen to you do I?               Its dangerous speaking to  

someone online, anything could         happen. Even you must see that.

GRACE stands up, swinging her rucksack over her shoulders and snatches her phone off the table.

GRACE:

I’m sick of you getting involved!

(She lowers her voice)

You don’t know me like she does,

you don’t know what it’s like for

me to come here – everyday. It’s a

living hell and I’m sick of it.

JAMES glances at the floor, taking into consideration how bad the bullying is.

CONT’D GRACE

    Its alright for you. You’ve never

              had to put up with the things I have.

  JAMES:

    I know you’re having a hard time...

(He pauses)

But I don’t like the sound of this

person. MissAnonymous13? That sounds

freaky enough already! You could be

speaking to anyone. Could be LEONIE        for all we know.

GRACE moves towards the table and slowly sits down beside JAMES. She stares at him for a couple of seconds, gathering her thoughts.

GRACE:

You’re jealous, aren’t you?

C’mon admit it.

JAMES:

               Jealous?!

He becomes quickly frustrated and defensive and his tone becomes louder.

CONT’D JAMES:

Jealous of you speaking to some

creep online?

He mocks her by pretending to type on a keyboard.

CONT’D JAMES

If I’m really being honest it’s      

not like you’ve got many friends to              choose from anyway, you said it

yourself! I’m doing you a favour!

GRACE:

Excuse me?

GRACE stands up quickly, feeling hurt and attacked.

JAMES:

Being friends with you is a nightmare.

All you ever do is lock yourself away

its no wonder you’re so disliked. I’m      forced to listen to all your pathetic           problems and you never listen to mine.         I’m sick of defending you all the...

GRACE interrupts but JAMES continues.

 CONT’D JAMES:

You may as well leave now.

Run back to your stupid

Youtube Videos and your

Weirdo friend!

GRACE:

     I can’t believe you.

GRACE storms off; a pained expression stretches across her face as her cheeks become blushed and hot. She exits the coffee shop and heads towards the bus stop leaving JAMES sat alone. She reaches home and rushes to her room. She logs onto her laptop and receives a message from MissAnonymous13.

2. EXT. DARK STREET. BLACKBURN, ENGLAND.

The scene switches to JAMES walking home, he has shrugged shoulders and a phone tightly grasped in his hands. His earphones are dangling as his listens to music to blur out reality. The camera is using a close up shot to display this characters emotion. A couple of streets from home JAMES passes a young girl who smiles: he quickly glances down and blinks quickly feeling uncomfortable and insecure.

3. INT. GRACES BEDROOM. BLACKBURN, ENGLAND.

GRACE and MissAnonymous chat online. GRACE is using the username PrettyYoung97. We focus on the screen and her fingers typing.

MISSANONYMOUS13:

Hey girl. What’s up?

PRETTYYOUNG97:

Hey! God am I glad to be speaking

to you. I’ve had the day from hell              and my so called ‘bestfriend’ has            been vile.

MISSANONYMOUS13:

          Who? That looser JAMES? I’ve told you

          he isn’t the friend you think he is.

          You should just block him.

GRACE is oblivious to MissAnonymous13’s scheming and agrees.

PRETTYYOUNG97:

         Yeah! He’s jealous because I’ve found

          someone who I can relate to other than                    him! He was sooo cruel to me and some                of the stuff he said – well, I’ve never                seen him like that.

MISSANONMOUS13:

          Urgh. He makes me sick. How can he make

     you feel like that? He enjoys making

you feel like you can’t have other

friends, he wants to control you and

that’s not right. I’ll never do that

to you. Anyway, enough of him!

How are you really?

PRETTYYOUNG97:

     Not too good at the moment.          

     LEONIE is still making my life            

     hell and I don’t know how long I     

can cope with it. My family doesn’t        wanna know, my teachers don’t      

wanna know and now JAMES doesn’t

               wanna know.

MISSANONYMOUS13:

Well I want to know you. Hey, I’ve

               just had the best idea hahaha.

GRACE relaxes in her chair, her eyes soaked into the comfort of the computer screen. She feels happy and comfortable.

    CONT’D MISSANONYMOUS13:

You have to take control and stop

people from walking over you. You like

YouTube right?

PRETTYYOUNG97:

Yeah, guess so.

MISSANONYMOUS13:

 Well, do you remember last week? We

 spoke for hours about our dreams - 

 you said yours was to be a number one

               internet sensation, yeah? PRANK VS.
                PRANK. Have you any idea how many                         subscribers they have? You could do                        it! You could become famous then you’d                       be the one laughing at LEONIE.

GRACE freezes as she puzzles to understand how MissAnonymous13 knows this information. She has not told her internet friend about her dream of a career on the internet but nevertheless continues as normal as this may have been easy to guess.

PRETTYYOUNG97:

I could do pranks? No way. I wouldn’t           know where to start and I’m not            funny, not to mention creative. What          would I do anyway? Put some gum on               her seat? Lame.

MISSANONYMOUS13:

           No looser. That’s armature. I mean

               something insane. Something wicked.

           Be smart. Do something they won’t   

           expect. Something no one will expect.

PRETTYOUNG97:

 OK, well go on.

MISSANONYMOUS13:

           How about if you was to find out    

                where they lived? Not hard.

PRETTYYOUNG97:

 And if I did, then what?

MISSANONYMOUS13:

           You need to go when it’s dark. Really    

           dark. Take photographs of her house

           and when she’s walking home. Tell her

               you’re coming for her.

PRETTYYOUNG97:

 Are you crazy?! She’d kill me. She’d     

           come into college the next day and

           everything would be made worse. I        

           can’t do that to her: she frightens me.

MISSANONYMOUS13:

           No, silly. How is she supposed to        

           know it’s you? You create a fake    

           profile and message her on that. Look    

           at you now, you’re talking to me and

           either of us can be whoever we want.

           When we talk we have a blank slate:      

           you don’t know who I am and I don’t

           know who you are. That’s the beauty      

           of it.

GRACE smiles and agrees with MissAnonymous13 but also considers the dangers and risks of messing with LEONIE.

PRETTYYOUNG97:

 Hmm, I’m not sure. You have a            

 good point. I guess, well... I guess

                I’m just a little scared.

MISSANONYMOUS13:

 C’mon, its a great idea. You have               too. If you don’t take control now            it will be too late and get worse,          you don’t want that do you? You                don’t want them to hurt other people            the same way they hurt you, do you?             What about your little sister? For               all we know she could be next.                     You have to do something girl.

4. EXT. MORNING - ST PAULS COLLEGE. BLACKBURN, ENGLAND.

It is early morning and the clouds that loom above are grey and eerie. GRACE heads towards the college doors to receive a smirk off LEONIE who is stood with a group of friends discussing their weekend plans.
LEONIE has shoulder length, glossy blonde hair and tanned skin. She has a slim build and is wearing a navy skater skirt with flat black shoes. Her face is thin and heavily coated with makeup.

LEONIE:

What you lookin’ at?

Laughter erupts from the surrounding girls and GRACE looks at the ground and attempts to scurry away.

FRIEND 1:

      Hey, she’s talkin’ to you. Where do

      you think you’re going?

FRIEND 1 grabs GRACE by the arm and pushes her so that she is trapped between the wall and the group of bullies.

GRACE:

           Ouch! Please...get off me, I wasn’t      

           lookin’ at nothin’. Let me go I’m   

           gonna be late.

GRACE shrugs herself free from the grip of LEONIE and attempts to move past. Her heart is pounding and her eyes begin to fill with tears.

   FRIEND 2:

Oh shut up you silly girl! Were            only messin’ with ya’. What you           crying for?

JAMES:

Hey! What you doing?! Get off her

now.

JAMES approaches the group of girls and allows GRACE to scurry off. GRACE gives him a look of appreciation.

GRACE:

                    (Mouthing)

Thankyou.

JAMES turns away and a look of disgust is painted across his face. He exits

5. INT. GRACES HOUSE - KITCHEN – LATE AFTERNOON. BLACKBURN, ENGLAND.

GRACE’s mother, JANET, and father, KEVIN, are stood in the kitchen while JANET is preparing dinner. KEVIN approaches JANET and puts his arm around her shoulder.

KEVIN:

I’m worried about GRACE y’know.

This is the third time her tutor

has rang me in the past month.

She keeps turning up late and when

she is there she can’t focus…

JANET:

I know darling, but there all the         

               same. Girls that age are feelin’ all      
               over the place. She just needs some       
               time to herself.
    

KEVIN:

That’s just it though – she is never      

          out of her room. She comes home from

          college and goes straight up there,  

          sometimes she doesn’t even say Hi.

JANET faces KEVIN and directs him a comforting smile to reassure him.

JANET:

It’s not as bad as that.

KEVIN:

   (He sighs)

Her grades have dropped so much      

since she started college, you                  can’t tell me there’s nothing wrong              with that. Maybe she’s got a             boyfriend or somethin’.

GRACE opens the front door and enters the house but her parents are oblivious to her entry. She can hear them discussing about her and decides to edge towards the door and listen.

CONT’D KEVIN:

Look I’m sick of it. We have two     

other children and she just seems                    to be the odd one out. She’s                  needlessly moody, failing at college      and she seems to enjoy making our               life difficult by hiding away and               playin’ on that stupid laptop. I’m              gonna take it off her until her              grades improve.

JANET:

         Don’t you think you’re being a             

         little hasty… Confiscating her laptop

             isn’t gonna solve anyt-…

KEVIN interrupts.

KEVIN:

          No, she’s a failure and I can’t just

          stand back and do nothing. What about

          Matthew? He’s so intelligent, I can’t

          believe that they are related.

GRACE storms into the kitchen, feeling furious and betrayed her cheeks are blemished. KEVIN and JANET turn around surprised and speculate whether GRACE has heard their conversation.

JANET:

Hey, darling. I didn’t hear you…

GRACE:

Is that what you really think? Wow              thanks dad. If that’s how you feel           then I’m leaving right now, I…

KEVIN:

          Don’t be stupid, I didn’t mean…I was

          just saying that... erm...

GRACE:

          I know exactly what you was saying,       

               I just can’t believe...

Her eyes begin fill with tears as she turns away and hurries upstairs. She reaches her bedroom and pulls a drawer of clothes out and takes a handful then throws them onto her bed. She sobs and glances at her phone screen. She takes out her laptop from under her bed and messages MissAnonymous13.

6. INT. GRACES BEDROOM – LATE AFTERNOON. BLACKBURN, ENGLAND.

GRACE and MISSANONYMOUS13 are typing.

PRETTYYOUNG97:

Hey! You won’t believe what just           happened. I came home to hear my

parents slagging me off, calling me       

a failure! My dad said he’s going to       take my laptop off me.

MISSANONYMOUS13:

God that’s awful. Your own parents?

Anyway, did you set up that fake

account like I told you? I’m so excited,

this is gonna’ be such a great plan.

GRACE sulks into her chair feeling ignored.

PRETTYYOUNG97:

Well, no. Not exactly. LEONIE shoved

me up against a wall today, she said I

was starin’ at her when I wasn’t. But,               you know what? JAMES came over, he told             them to get off me! He’s never done               that before, stuck up for me like                  that! I really hope me and him sort               things out soon.

MISSANONYMOUS13:

You can’t keep putting it off, OK?

Do it tonight, do it now? Set up the

account. I’ve already told you, JAMES

is a pathetic loser, he’s jealous and      controlling and you can’t see that

because of how blind you are! Get a grip   girl and get rid while you still can.

GRACE feels hurt that her online friend is being spiteful towards her friend JAMES. She feels uncomfortable defending him as she knows that MissAnonymous13 is her only friend and someone that she cannot afford to lose.

PRETTYYOUNG97:

Ok, I’ll do it now. Speak to

you later.

GRACE closes the chat and creates a new account. She uses the username ‘RightBehindYou_.’ Feeling agitated, hurt and wanting revenge she searches LEONIE and messages her.

Typing.

RIGHTBEHINDYOU:

I know who you are and I know             

what you did.

Seconds after sending the message GRACE slams her laptop shut to hear her mother edging up the stairs and knocking on her door before opening it at a small angle. GRACE, aware that her mother is there, ignores her appearance and stares at the end of her bed.

JANET:

How you feeling darling? About                  before, Dad didn’t mean what he               said. He just cares a lot and he              doesn’t want you falling behind…

That’s all.

GRACE shrugs – her eyes still focused on the direction at the end of the bed.

CONT’D JANET:

          I can’t help if you don’t talk            

          to me, dear.

JANET walks slowly towards GRACE and perches on the end of the bed. She directs GRACE a soothing look and exhales deeply.

GRACE:

It’s not like you’ve ever helped       

me before! I’m sick of being              treated like second best. Just get

             out of my room mum.

JANET looks surprised but more hurt that her daughter has spoken to her in this way. She attempts again to comfort GRACE by placing her hand on her shoulder.

CONT’D GRACE:

I told you! Get off and get out

my room! I don’t wanna’ ever talk

to you or dad again. I have all

the people I need and you’re

not one of them.